~~v^ 


TfCSB  LIBPTPV 


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z. 


THE 


CHRISTIAN    HERO 


or  THE 


IJinrtftntli  Ctntnri|, 


By  E.  H.  gray, 

PASTOR    OF    THE    BAPTIST    CHURCH,    SHELBURNB 
FALLS,  MASS. 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTORY  ESSAY. 


By  S.  F.  smith, 

PASTOR   OF  THE   FIRST   BAPTIST   CHURCH,    NEWTOK, 
MASS. 


SECOND    EDITION. 

CAMBRIDGE : 

E.  ROBBINS   &  J.  FORD. 

1852. 


EntereJ  accorJin?  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1851, 
by  Eleazer  Robbins,  in  the  Clerk's  Oflice  of  the 
Di.Jtrict  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusett^s. 


CAMBRIDGE: 

STEHEOTYPED   BY   METCALF   AND    COMPANY. 


PREFACE. 


The  following  little  book  comprises  the 
substance  of  two  discourses,  which  were  origi- 
nally delivered  by  the  author  to  his  own  peo- 
ple ;  and  a  copy  of  which,  in  compliance  with 
their  request,  was  furnished  for  the  press. 
The  object  of  the  author,  in  this  work,  is  to 
present  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  most  remarka- 
ble events  connected  with  the  character,  la- 
bors, and  sufferings  of  Dr.  Judson,  and  pai*- 
ticularly  to  give  prominence  to  his  change  of 
denominational  sentiments.  This  incident  in 
liis  life,  which  seems  so  providential,  and  has 
so  important  a  connection  with  the  history  of 
Baptist  Missions,  appears,  from  some  cause, 
to  have  been  studiously  concealed,  or  very 
lightly  passed  over  in  those  works,  when 
we  might  reasonably  have  expected  to  see  it 
fully  and  prominently  set  forth.   In  this  work, 


special  pains  have  been  taken,  as  far  as  the 
scope  of  the  work  will  permit,  to  give  the 
reasons  which  Dr.  Jadson  has  himself  as- 
sii^ned  for  his  change  of  sentiments. 

For  the  many  facts  here  embodied,  I  am 
indebted  to  the  Judson  Offering,  Gammel's 
History  of  Missions,  Memoirs  of  Ann  II. 
Judson,  Br.  Judson's  Work  on  Baptism,  and 
to  a  variety  of  otlier  sources. 

The  first  edition  having  been  exhausted  in 
a  few  months,  and  the  demand  still  increas- 
ing, the  work  has  been  revised  and  prepared 
for  a  second  issue.  Such  as  it  is,  this  little 
volume  is  again  submitted  to  the  public,  with 
the  ardent  desire,  that  wherever  its  voice  shall 
be  heard,  it  may  prove  at  least  a  herald  to 
the  forthcoming  Memoirs  of  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  men  of  his  age. 
Shelburne  Falls,  Nov.  \st,  1851. 


RECOMMENDATIONS. 


{From  Rev.  Dr.  Pattison.) 
"Eev.  E.  H.  Gray,— 

"  Dear  Brother  :  I  thank  you  for  a  copy 
of  your  excellent  discourse  on  the  character, 
labors,  &c.,  of  the  late  Eev.  Dr.  Judson.  It  has 
been  intimated  to  me  that  you  would  issue  an- 
other edition,  if  thought  best  by  your  friends. 
I  can  say  truly  that  I  deem  it  adapted,  with- 
out injury  to  the  pecuniary  interest  of  the 
family  of  Dr.  Judson,  who  justly  rely  on  the 
profits  of  a  forthcoming  memoir  for  the  means 
of  education,  to  contribute  essentially  to  the 
advancement  of  the  cause  of  Missions,  in  the 
promotion  of  which  the  subject  was  so  emi- 
nent and  honored  an  instrument. 

"R.E.  Pattison. 

"Newton,  Dec.  IQth,  1851." 


KECOMMEXDATIOXS. 


{From  Rev.  Dr.  Prior.) 
"  I  fully  concur  in  the  above. 

"John  Prior. 

"  Cambridge,  Dec.  15th,  1851." 


The  following  resolution  was  passed  by  the 
Franklin  County  Baptist  Association,  at  their 
late  meeting,  Sept.  10,  1851  :  — 

"  Resolved,  That  we  have  read  the  '  Chris- 
tian Hero  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,'  or  a 
brief  sketch  of  the  most  important  events 
connected  with  the  character,  sufferings,  and 
labors  of  the  Rev.  Adoniram  Judson,  D.  D., 
Senior  Missionary  of  the  A.  B.  M.  U.,  by 
Rev.  E.  H.  Gray,  with  deep  interest,  and 
believe  that  the  cause  of  Missions,  and  the 
interest  of  the  denomination,  would  be  great- 
ly promoted  by  its  republication." 


INTRODUCTORY   ESSAY. 


Our  Lord's  last  official  act  on  earth  was  to 
commission  his  disciples  and  followers  to  go 
forth  everywhere  pi-eaching  the  Word.  The 
purifying,  elevating,  and  ennobling  influences 
of  the  Gospel  he  desired  to  have  diffused 
among  all  mankind.  And,  by  Divine  appoint- 
ment, this  diffusion  was  to  be  effected  through 
human  instrumentality.  Hence  he  made  it 
the  topic  of  his  parting  instruction  to  them, 
that  they  should  see  to  it,  to  have  his  will  in 
this  respect  fulfilled. 

The  normal  and  highest  state  of  the  human 
race  on  earth  exists  only  where  Christianity 
prevails.     It  is  only  under  the  influence   of 
Christianity  that  learning  is  diflused  among  | 
all  classes  of  society,  the  arts  of  life  are  culti-  \ 
vated,  useful   inventions   are  made,  and   the  ' 
benefit  of  them  secured  to  the  inventors  ;  men  { 
combine  their  efforts  for  the  common  good : 


INTKODUCTORi'   ESSAY. 


equitable  governments  are  maintained ;  equal 
rights  prevail ;  and,  the  selfish  maxim  being 
repudiated,  men  feel  the  obligation  to  live  for 
one  another,  and  to  promote  one  another's 
highest  welfiire,  temporal  and  spiritual,  pres- 
ent and  eternal;  Hence  the  diffusion  of  Chris- 
tianity should  be  undertaken  as  a  matter  of 
philanthropy  and  benevolence,  even  if  it  were 
not  supposed  to  have  any  thing  to  do  with  the 
spiritual  welfare  or  the  eternal  salvation  of 
the  heathen  nations.  The  more  widely  Chris- 
tianity prevails,  the  more  will  learning,  com- 
merce, art,  science,  and  literature  flourisli ;  the 
more  will  the  .wealth  of  the  world  increase  j 
the  greater  will  be  the  demand  for  the  pro- 
ductions of  art  which  come  from  civilized 
climes.  So  that  the  diffusion  of  Christianity 
should  be  favored  and  promoted,  if  for  noth- 
ing better,  even  as  a  matter  of  worldly  policy. 
The  bighest  good  of  the  world,  in  every  re- 
spect, will  be  promoted  by  it. 

But  we  desii'e  more  than  a  mere  external 
Christianity  with  its  benefits,  —  more  than  a 
religion  of  forms  and  show.  We  desire  to 
extend  to  all  nations  a  share  in  the  reliecion  of 


IXTKODUCTORY   ESSAY. 


the  heart,  because  it  Avill  improve  their  out- 
ward condition,  promote  intellectual  culture, 
refine  the  affections,  elevate  and  purify  the 
soul,  open  new  and  higher  sources  of  pleasure 
to  those  who  are  now  perverted,  oppressed, 
and  degraded,  and  make  this  whole  earth  an 
image  of  heaven. 

This  is  the  object  contemplated  in  the  Mis- 
sionary enterprise.  And  the  earth  is  now  in 
an  eminent  manner  ripe  for  the  efforts  by 
which  such  results  are  to  be  secured.  Travel- 
lers among  the  various  heathen  tribes  inform 
us  that  the  heathen  superstitions  are  growing 
old,  and  that  neither  do  the  priests  believe 
in  them  nor  the  people  respect  them.  The 
forms  of  idolatrous  worship  are  kept  up,  part- 
ly through  the  selfishness  of  the  priests,  who, 
by  this  craft,  have  their  support  5  and  partly 
because  human  nature  craves  some  religion, 
and  clings  to  a  poor  and  imperfect  system  in 
preference  to  none  at  all. 

It  is  now  many  years  since  evangelical 
Christians  in  different  countries  have  under- 
taken the  work  of  promoting  the  conversion 
of  the  world  to  God.    It  is  an  interesting 


INTRODUCTORY   ESSAY. 


question,  Is  it  a  merely  human  enterprise,  a 
plan  originating  in  human  foresight,  and  de- 
pendent oil  human  sagacity  ;  or  is  it  a  Divine 
plan,  in  which  God  is  interested,  which  he 
favors,  and  every  part  of  the  prosecution  of 
which  hfe  superintends  ?  -We  affirm  that  the 
Missionary  enterprise  is  a  Divine  plan,  that 
God  is  deeply  interested  in  the  prosecution  of 
it,  that  he  superintends,  encourages,  and  aids 
tlie  work  in  its  several  steps,  and  that,  beyond 
all  doubt,  he  will  crown  it  in  the  end  with  the 
most  entire  and  glorious  success.  "We  think 
these  points  can  be  distinctly  made  out  from 
the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures,  and  from  the 
movements  of  Divine  Providence.  Judson  is 
not.  Boardman  is  not.  Comstock  is  not. 
Clarke  is  not.  But  the  God  of  Missions  sits 
in  tranquil  majesty,  viewing  and  controlling 
the  coming  and  the  receding  waves ;  and,  in 
due  time,  he  will  cause  the  wave  of  glory  to 
roll  over  the  whole  earth,  and  all  flesh  shall 
see  the  salvation  of  God.  "  I,  the  Lord,  Avill 
hasten  it  in  his  time." 

We  shall  defend  the  principle  just  stated  by 
showing  the  connection  held  by  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  with  the  cause  of  foreign  Missions. 


INTRODUCTOKY   ESSAY. 


1.  He  has  favored  the  Missionary  cause  by 
his  own  example.  Christ  was,  emphatically, 
a  Missionary ;  one  sent,  —  sent  from  God. 
Never  did  a  human  being  submit  to  such  sac- 
rifices, for  the  sake  of  elevating  the  degraded 
and  the  wretched,  as  Christ  did,  that  he  might 
raise  the  ruined  race  of  man  from  the  degra- 
dation of  sin,  and  from  the  prospect  of  eternal 
death.  Never  did  a  human  Missionary  leave 
such  scenes  of  comfort,  joy,  and  blessedness 
as  Jesus  did,  when  he  left  the  bosom  of  the 
Father,  the  glory  of  heaven,  the  adoration  of 
angels,  and  the  sovereignty  of  worlds,  and 
came  down  to  earth  to  suffer  and  to  die  for 
man.  And  never  did  a  human  Missionary 
suffer  such  self-denials  and  trials,  ignominy 
and  persecution  as  Jesus  did,  when  he  under- 
took the  work  of  human  redemption.  When 
Missionaries  go  to  the  heathen,  they  find  them 
idolaters,  having  no  knowledge  of  the  true 
God ;  with  none  of  the  refining  and  elevating 
influences  of  Christianity ;  degraded  and,  most- 
ly, sunk  in  wretchedness,  with  no  certain  light 
concerning  a  future  state,  and  no  hopes  of  a 
glorious  immortality.     Christ  found  most  of 


INTRODUCTORY   ESSAY. 


the  human  race  in  precisely  this  condition. 
Even  the  Jews,  his  countrymen,  though  they 
had  the  fonns  of  worship  and  of  the  service 
of  the  true  God,  were  in  the  most  hopeless 
state  of  heartless  and  supercilious  formalism. 
No  string  in  their  hard  hearts  vibrated  to  the 
sound  of  his  voice.  No  spirit  of  contrition 
answered  to  his  appeals,  warnings,  and  in- 
structions. Yet  he  was  a  Missionary  in  the 
highest  sense.  The  word  apostle^  derived  from 
the  Greek,  and  the  word  missionary^  derived 
from  the  Latin,  have  precisely  the  same  force, 
and  signify  "  one  who  is  sent."  Christ  was 
"  sent "  from  heaven  as  a  Missionary  to  lost 
men,  to  teach  the  ignorant,  to  convert  the 
wicked,  to  lead  men  to  the  knowledge  of  God, 
and  to  open  up  before  them  the  way  to  heaven. 
Precisely  as  men  go  now,  —  a  man  or  a  half 
a  dozen  men  to  a  great  nation,  —  aiming  to 
subvert  idolatry,  and  to  plant  on  every  hill, 
and  in  every  valley,  the  standard  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  to  gain  over  the  whole  nation  to 
Jesus  Christ ;  and  the  men  of  the  Avorld  call 
it  "  a  forlorn  hope  "  ;  precisely  so  did  Christ 
come  into  this  world.     So  he  commenced  his 


INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY. 


work.  He  achieved  gloriously  his  first  tri- 
umph, when  he  rose  from  the  dead  and  as- 
cended to  heaven.  He  left  his  followers  an 
example.  And  if  any  man,  while  he  admires 
the  achievements  of  Christ,  still  doubts  the 
wisdom  of  our  following,  in  this  respect,  the 
example  of  our  Lord,  let  him  remember  that 
we  are  not  alone  and  unaided  in  this  work. 
The  same  mighty  Conqueror  is  still  active  in 
it.  He  says,  in  regard  to  it,  "  Lo,  I  am  with 
you  alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world." 
This  is  the  promise.  '"  And  they  went  every- 
where preaching  the  Word,  the  Lord  working 
with  them,  and  confirming  the  Word  with 
signs  following."  This  is  its  fulfilment  and 
confii-mation.  He  tJiat  sits  in  the  heavens, 
the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  still  acts  the 
Missionaxy,  goes  forth  with  his  servant,  works 
with  him,  works  for  him,  works  before  him, 
confirming  the  Word  with  signs,  following. 
And  when  he  works,  to  whom  belongs  all 
power  in  heaven  and  in  earth,  where  is  the 
folly  of  the  Missionary  enterprise,  or  how  can 
it  be  shown  to  be  a  forlorn  hope  ? 
2.  Christ  gave  the  injunction  to  undertake 


INTRODUCTOIIY   ESSAY. 


the  Missionary  work,  as  his  last  command  to 
his  Apostles,  and,  through  them,  to  all  then- 
successors,  till  the  work  should  be  accom- 
plished. How  impressive  must  have  been  the 
scene,  when  this  injunction  was  laid  upon  the 
Apostles !  He  speaks  to  them  of  Avhat  he 
had  done  and  suffered,  announces  his  plans 
for  the  conquest  of  the  world,  and  finally 
gives  the  direction,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world, 
and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature." 
What!  "  Into  all  the  world  ?  "  Yes.  "Into 
all  the  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every 
creature."  And  these  few  men  were  thus 
commissioned  to  perform  such  a  task  among 
the  learned  Greeks,  the  polished  Eomans,  the 
philosophers,  poets,  and  orators,  the  states- 
men, the  warriors,  and  the  heathen  priesthood 
of  the  civilized  world,  and  among  the  tide 
of  northern  barbarians,  from  Britain  on  the 
west,  to  China  on  the  east,  from  northern  Eu- 
rope, among  that  herd  of  fierce  and  deter- 
mined men,  to  the  southern  limit  of  popula-  \ 
tion  in  Africa ;  a  task  which,  tradition  says,  j 
they  actually  accomplished.  Paul  intimates  as  i 
much,  when  he  writes  to  the  Colo^sians,  that  ' 


IKTEODUCTORT   ESSAY. 


the  Gospel  had  been  "  preached  to  every  crea- 
ture under  heaven."  And  it  is  also  written, 
"  they  went  everywhere  preaching  the  Word." 
Even  Africa  is  said  to  have  once  numbered 
thirty  thousand  Christian  churches. 

After  Christ  had  uttered  this  last  command, 
he  blessed  his  disciples,  and  while  he  blessed 
them,  he  was  parted  from  them,  and  a  cloud 
received  him  out  of  their  sight.  Mount  Olivet, 
from  which  the  ascension  took  place,  was  the 
same  with  the  Mount  of  Olives,  at  whose  foot 
was  the  garden  of  Gethsemane.  The  spot 
which  witnessed  the  Saviour's  deepest  humili- 
ation, witnessed  also  his  highest  exaltation. 
Where  he  groaned  in  agony,  sweating  great 
drops  of  blood,  there  he  stood  as  a  triumphant 
conqueror,  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth, 
stretching  forth  his  hands  and  blessing  his 
disciples.  And  there  he  received  their  wor- 
ship, as  Luke  says,  "  And  they  worshipped 
him,  and  returned  to  Jerusalem  with  great 
joy."  Blessing  his  Apostles,  and  consecrating 
them  to  thcii-  warfare  for  the  cause  of  truth 
and  righteousness,  the  Saviour  left  the  earth 
and  ascended  to  glory.     Could  we  have  been 


I 

Xvi  INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY. 

present,  how  would  that  injunction,  given 
under  such  circumstances,  have  impressed  us, 
as  the  hist  words  of  our  ascended  Master ; 
too  precious  to  be  trifled  with ;  too  important 
to  be  disregarded ;  too  obligatory  to  be  dis- 
obeyed. And  the  injunction  was  in  harmony 
with  all  that  had  gone  before  in  his  history, 
with  his  own  example  and  mission,  with  his 
object  in  coming  into  the  world,  with  the  de- 
sign of  his  death,  with  the  promises  made  to 
him  by  the  Father,  with  the  prophecies  con- 
cerning him  in  the  Old  Testament.  If  we 
consider  the  terms  of  the  injunction,  the  cir- 
cumstances attending  its  announcement,  its 
manifest  design,  the  character  and  the  plans  of 
him  who  uttered  it,  or  the  manner  in  which 
the  immediate  disciples  understood  it,  and 
acted  on  it,  we  shall  be  convinced  that,  be- 
yond all  question,  the  injunction  looked  to  the 
foreign  Missionary  enterprise,  and  the  con- 
version of  the  world.  Had  Christ  designed 
to  be  understood  as  referring  to  such  an^- 
terprise,  in  Avhat  words  could  he  have  declared 
it  more  plainly "?  Here  is,  therefore,  in  another 
point,  the  visible  connection  of  Jesus  Christ 


IXTRODUCTORY    ESSAY. 


with  foreign  Missions,  and  a  token  of  the  Di- 
vine approval  of  the  work.  It  is  not  of  man, 
but  of  God. 

We  need  scarcely  add,  that  many  of  the 
commands  under  vviiich  we  live,  under  the 
government  of  God,  would  lead  us  to  fulfil 
the  injunction.  The  principle  of  reciprocity 
involved  in  the  golden  rule,  would  engage  us 
heart  and  hand  in  the  work  of  Missions. 

3.  The  Scriptures  contain  promises  of 
Christ  to  aid  the  Missionary  work,  and  to 
sustain  those  engaged  in  it.  There  is,  espe- 
cially, the  notable  promise  pronounced  in  this 
connection,  and  having  reference  to  this  very 
work,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  to 
the  end  of  the  world,"  according  to  Matthew ; 
and  the  memorable  words,  according  to  Mark, 
"  In  my  name  shall  they  cast  out  devils ;  they 
shall  speak  with  new  tongues ;  they  shall  take 
up  serpents ;  and,  if  they  drink  any  deadly 
thing,  it  shall  not  hurt  them ;  they  shall  lay 
hands  on  the  sick,  and  they  shall  recover." 
These  promises  are  not  sterile,  meagre,  nar- 
row, specific ;  but  broad,  sublime,  and  com- 
prehensive.    0,  what  a  treasure  of  riches  do 


INTKODUCTORY   ESSAY, 


they  contain !  What  a  world  of  blessing, 
under  all  needy  circumstances,  do  they  em- 
brace !  Wliat  a  wide  ocean  of  good,  illimita- 
ble, unfathomable,  do  they  pour  out  around 
the  Christian  Missionary,  and  the  cause  of 
Missions,  and  all  who  labor  in  that  cause,  — 
who  pray  for  it,  or  give  to  it,  or  interest  them- 
selves in  it !  Who  would  not  give  himself  up 
to  be  "  Jesus  Christ's  man,"  with  such  a  pros- 
pect, with  such  a  Promiser,  and  with  such 
promises  1 

This  promise  of  our  Lord  is  uttered  in  re- 
spect to  this  particular  work,  first,  on  account 
of  its  difficulties  and  trials ;  secondly,  because 
he  is  particularly  interested  in  the  work.  He 
has  taken  it  under  his  patronage,  and  has  de- 
termined to  carry  it  through.  By  making 
such  promises  in  respect  to  it,  he  would  have 
men  understand  that  he  has  taken  the  work 
under  his  patronage,  that  he  has  pledged  his 
infinite  power  in  regard  to  it,  and  that  it  is 
his.  The  -wise  men  of  this  world  may  scoff 
at  it,  and  decline  to  engage  in  it,  or  to  give  it 
their  approval.  But  he  owns  it,  and  honors 
it,  and  loves  it,  and  helps  it,  and  will  ultimate- 


IXTRODUCTORT   ESSAY. 


ly  give  it  complete  success.  When,  therefore, 
a  person  leaves  home,  and  friends,  and  kin- 
dred, and  goes  forth  on  the  strength  of  this 
injunction  of  our  Lord,  let  him  remember, 
and  let  his  friends  remember,  that  he  goes 
itnder  the  protection  of  such  a  shield.  The 
banners  of  an  almighty  Leader,  soon  to  be  a 
glorious  Conqueror,  v/ave  around  him.  It  is 
not  a  forlorn  hope,  nor  a  mere  project  of  hu- 
man wisdom  in  which  he  embarks,  but  a  pro- 
ject which  bears  on  its  front  the  seal  of  the 
divine  Master.  He  is  armed  neither  with  the 
sword  of  Goliath,  nor  with  the  armor  of  Saul, 
but  with  the  panoply  of  the  Lord  of  hosts. 
Carnal  weapons  may  be  shivered,  and  king- 
doms may  be  brought  to  nought.  But  his 
kingdom  is  an  everlasting  kingdom,  and  his 
dominion  shall  have  no  end.  His  engage- 
ment to  his  Missionary  servants  assumes,  so 
to  speak,  the  form  of  a  covenant :  "  Do  you, 
on  your  part,  go  and  teach  all  nations,  bap- 
tizing them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of 
the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  lo !  I, 
on  my  part,  am  with  you  alway,  even  to  the 
end  of  the  world."    And  he  has  ever  been 


INTEODUCTOEY   ESSAY. 


faitloful  to  his  covenant.  Dr.  Judson,  lying  in 
the  death  prison  at  Ava;  Boardman,  sinking 
into  the  grave  in  the  presence  of  that  rare 
scene,  the  baptism  of  thirty  Karen  converts ; 
Crocker,  perishing  by  a  sudden  death  in  Africa ; 
Henry  Martyn,  dying  of  the  plague  at  Tocat ; 
and  Gordon  Hall  of  cholera,  crying,  with  his 
sinking  breath,  "  Glory  be  to  thee,  O  God ! " 
and  Abbot,  luxuriating  in  his  almost  Apostol- 
ical success  at  Sandoway,  all  have  been  able 
to  affirm,  "  He  is  faithful  that  hath  promised." 
Thus  Jesus  Christ  is  the  patron  and  supporter 
of  Missions.  Who,  in  view  of  such  facts, 
Avould  willingly  oppose  them,  or  doubt  the 
expediency  of  them,  or  shrink,  through  fear, 
from  engaging  in  them  1 

Should  any  reader  of  this  ai-ticle,  therefore, 
be  intrusted  with  a  share  in  this  great  and 
honorable  work,  permit  us  to  say,  You  see 
what  you  are  to  expect.  It  may  seem  a  sad 
day,  when  you  take  your  life  in  your  hand, 
to  go  far  hence  to  the  Gentiles;  when  you 
relinquish  the  prospect  of  honor  and  station 
among  your  early  companions ;  when  you  bid 
adieu  to  the  scenes  of  your  childhood,  and  to 


INTRODUCTORY   ESSAY. 


the  places  dear  to  you  by  the  associations  of 
your  riper  years.  But  consider  who  is  the 
great  patron  of  Missions.  Contemplate  the 
covenant  into  which  Jesus  Christ  enters  with 
you,  and  how  exactly,  in  all  past  time,  he  has 
adhered  to  the  terms  of  that  covenant.  The 
trial  may  be  great,  but  it  is  short,  and  the  re- 
ward is  infinite.  "  The  harvest  of  the  earth 
is  ripe,"  and  "  he  that  reapeth  receiveth  wages 
and  gathereth  fruit  unto  life  eternal." 

"  He  'U  shield  you  with  a  wall  of  fire, 
With  holy  zeal  your  hearts  inspire ; 
Bid  raging  winds  their  fury  cease, 
And  cahn  the  savage  breast  to  peace. 

"  And  when  our  labors  all  are  o'er, 
Then  we  shall  meet  to  part  no  more,  — 
Meet,  with  the  blood-bought  throng,  to  fall, 
And  crown  the  Saviour,  Lord  of  all." 

4.  The  promises  of  God  the  Father  to  God 
the  Son,  in  respect  to  the  success  of  the 
Missionary  cause,  furnish  infinite  encourage- 
ment to  the  enterprise.  And,  as  the  Son 
accepted  those  promises,  and  acted  on  them, 
they  put  both  God  the  Father  and  God  the 
Son  in  the  attitude  of  patrons  of  the  Mis- 


IXTEODUCTOKY   ESSAY. 


sionaiy  work.  Promises  of  tins  sort  abound 
in  the  Scriptures.  Sometimes  they  appear 
in  the  form  of  absolute  promises  ;  some- 
times in  the  shape  of  predictions.  They  are 
familiar  to  all  readers  of  the  Divine  Word. 
As  a  specimen,  take  the  second  Psalm,  espe- 
cially the  words,  "  Ask  of  me,  my  Son,  and 
I  shall  give  thee  the  heatheir  for  thine  inher- 
itance, and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth 
for  thy  possession."  Or,  take  the  forty-fifth 
Psalm,  or  the  seventy-second,  or  the  one  hun- 
dred and  tenth.  As  a  specimen  out  of  the 
Prophets,  take  many  of  the  chapters  of  the 
Book  of  Isaiah,  where,  in  terms  of  no  dubi- 
ous import,  is  distinctly  announced  the  sub- 
jugation of  the  world  to  Christ.  Christ  re- 
lied on  these  predictions  and  promises  during 
the  sufferings  of  his  incarnation.  Perhaps 
it  was  by  bringing  to  his  mind,  and  dis- 
tinctly applying  some  of  these  very  promis- 
es, that  the  angel  from  heaven  strengthened 
lum,  when,  as  a  man  of  sorrows,  he  knelt 
agonizing  under  the  shadow  of  the  olives 
which  clustered  around  the  foot  and  along 
the  sides  of  that  very  mountain,  on  which 


INTRODUCTORY   ESSAY. 


lie  stood  a  peerless  conqueror,  when  the 
scene  of  the  commission  and  the  ascension 
transpired.  When  he  contemplated  his  death 
on  the  cross,  with  prophetic  vision  he  saw  its 
connection  with  this  result.  Hence,  when 
he  said,  "  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the 
earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me";  in  the 
same  connection  he  said,  with  the  most 
graphic  delineation,  as  if  his  eye  already  pen- 
etrated the  future,  and  he  saw  the  work  com- 
pleted, "  I  saw  Satan,  as  lightning,  fall  from 
heaven.'' 

God  has  made  such  promises  and  engage- 
ments to  his  Son.  The  Son  relied  upon  them, 
and  acted  on  them.  Thus  he  encouraged  his 
followers  to  rely  upon  them,  and  act  on  them 
also.  Thus  Jesus  Christ  is  involved,  so  to 
speaJk,  in  the  Missionary  cause.  He  is,  so  to 
say,  accountable  for  the  confidence  we  cherish 
respecting  it.  If  he  was  right,  we  are  right ; 
if  he  was  safe,  we  are  safe.  And  only  if  he 
was  wrong,  are  we  wrong  in  our  Missionary 
interest,  and  in  the  expectations  we  cherish  as 
to  the  conversion  of  the  world  to  God.  But 
God  will  not,  cannot  disappoint  his  Son,  him- 


INTRODUCTORY   ESSAY. 


self,  in  this  thing.  If  God  has  said,  "  Ask 
of  me,  my  Son,  and  I  shall  give  thee  the 
heathen  for  thine  inheritance,"  when  he  asks, 
through  the  prayers  of  liis  Churcli  -which  he 
inspires,  God  will  not  be  deaf  to  the  request. 
For  the  Lord  has  said,  "  Whatsoever  ye  shall 
ask  the  Father,  in  my  name,  he  will  give  it 
you." 

The  Missionary  laborers,  then,  who  are  sent 
forth  may  be  in  themselves  unworthy.  Tlicir 
efforts  may  be  feeble  and  imperfect,  interrupt- 
ed by  sickness,  prematurely  cut  off  by  polit- 
ical interference,  apparently  smothered  under 
the  wickedness,  and  worldliness,  and  persecu- 
tions of  men.  Some  may  prove  false  to  their 
Master,  and  abandon  the  cause.  The  laborers 
are  but  earthen  vessels.  Some  may  just  attain 
the  greatest  ripeness  for  usefulness,  and  then  be 
caught  up  into  heaven,  to  labor  in  a  more  use- 
ful service,  to  grace  a  more  honored  sphere, 
leaving  the  harvest-sheaves  half  gathered, 
called  off  at  noon,  relinquishing  their  work 
to  others.  Some  may  die  in  ripe  manhood, 
like  Judson ;  some  in  the  vigor  of  youth,  like 
James  and  Thomas;  some  before  they  have 


INTKODUCTOllV   ESSAY. 


fully  girded  on  their  armor,  like  Biddlc.  But 
above  all  these  seeming  evils  and  disasters, 
there  stands  the  promise,  "He  shall  reign 
from  sea  to  sea,  and  from  the  river  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth." 

When  the  Missionary,  laboring  amid  dis- 
couragements in  a  heathen  land,  thinks  of 
Christ,  and  of  his  connection  with  the  Mission- 
ary cause ;  when  he  thinks  of  the  promises  to 
him,  and  of  the  prayers  of  the  people  of  God 
in  his  behalf,  how  his  heart  is  encouraged,  and 
his  soul  leaps  for  joy.  The  faithfulness  of  the 
divine  Promisor  is  a  thing  never  to  be  called 
in  question.  The  power  of  the  promises  is  a 
living  force,  always  acting  beneficially  upon 
the  soul  of  the  Gospel  laborer.  And  there  is 
a  sense  in  which,  by  virtue  of  the  sustaining, 
cheering  energy  of  these  promises,  it  may  be 
said  with  truth,  "  The  Lord  working  with 
them."  This  is  the  Lord  working  with  them 
by  working  in  them.  Why  should  men  of 
the  world  ever  regard  Missions  as  a  forlorn 
hope,  when  God  has  assured  his  incarnate  Son 
that  they  are  not  a  forlorn  hope,  and  that  they 
shall  not  prove  a  failure  1     Do  they  not  know 


INTKODUCTORY   ESSAY. 


that  God  is  a  God  of  power  and  a  God  of 
truth  1  "  Hath  he  said,  and  shall  he  not  do  it  ? 
Hath  he  promised,  and  will  he  not  make  it 
good  ? " 

5.  To  the  influence  of  Jesus  Christ  we  must 
trace  the  success  of  all  Missionary  efforts  in 
every  age.  Every  instance  is  only  a  fulfil- 
ment of  the  promise,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  al- 
way,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world."  The  suc- 
cesses of  modern  times  are  only  a  repetition  of 
that  which  is  related  in  the  Gospel  of  Mark : 
"  They  went  everywhere,  preaching  the  Word, 
the  Lord  working  with  them,  and  confirming 
the  Word  with  signs  following."  It  is  but  an- 
other leaf  in  the  same  history,  in  the  spirit  of 
the  preceding  pages.  It  is  Jesus  Christ  who 
is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever, 
working  always  after  the  same  model,  and 
producing  from  the  like  causes  like  results. 
And  whether  we  contemplate  the  Apostolic 
successes,  or  the  great  revivals  among  the 
American  Indians  in  the  time,  and  under  the 
labors  of  David  Brainerd,  or  the  numerous 
conversions  among  the  Karens,  or  any  other 
specimen,  the  whole  is  to  be  traced  to  the  in- 


INTRODUCTORY   ESSAY.  XXVll 

terest  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  this  cause, 
to  his  constant  regard  for  it,  and  superinten- 
dence of  it,  and  to  his  working  with  his  ser- 
vants, and  confirming  the  Word  by  signs  fol- 
lowing. And  it  is  because  of  that  Divine  co- 
operation of  Jesus  Christ,  that  we  anticipate 
the  ultimate  and  complete  success  of  the  Mis- 
sionary enterprise.  The  time,  we  believe,  is 
not  very  far  away,  —  every  thing  seems  tend- 
ing towards  the  consummation,  when,  through 
the  connection  of  Jesus  Christ  with  the  foreign 
Missionary  cause,  the  world  will  be  reduced 
to  subjection  to  him.  Then  shall  the  wolf  lie 
down  with  the  lamb,  and  the  leopard  with  the 
kid.  And  they  shall  no  more  say  one  to  an- 
other, Know  the  Lord,  for  all  shall  know  him 
from  the  least  to  the  greatest.  Then  shall 
men  beat  their  swords  into  ploughshares  and 
their  spears  into  praning-hooks.  Nation  shall 
no  more  lift  up  sword  against  nation,  and 
they  shall  learn  war  no  more.  Then  will 
eveiy  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and 
nation,  unite  in  the  anthem  of  Christian  wor- 
ship. The  most  degraded  and  cruel  idolaters 
will  bear   the   meek,   sweet   spirit  of   Jesus 


i?;troductory  essay. 


Christ.  The  cold  north  and  the  sunny  south, 
the  east  and  the  west,  the  continents  and  the 
islands  will  worship  the  same  Father,  trust  in 
the  same  Redeemer,  with  kindred  desire  strive 
after  the  same  heaven,  and  alike  bring  forth 
fruit  to  the  glory  of  God. 

Our  labors  may  contribute  to  secure  this 
object.  Our  contributions  may  share  in  ac- 
complishing such  a  result.  Our  children  may 
be  among  those  who  shall  witness  the  consum- 
mation on  earth.  Our  own  eyes  will  sec  from 
heaven  the  whole  earth  made  subject  to  the 
Prince  of  peace,  the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord 
of  lords.  The  sons  and  daughters  who  are 
in  our  schools,  or  whom  we  fondle  and  caress 
at  home,  we  may  be  nurturing  to  take  an  im- 
portant pai't  in  the  great  work.  While  they 
are  laboring  for  the  divine  Master,  even  in 
the  vigor  of  their  days,  who  can  tell  but  the 
gi'eat  appointed  day  of  triumph  may  come, 
the  darkness  be  dissipated,  and  the  glory  of 
the  Lord  go  forth  to  fill  the  earth  even  as  the 
waters  cover  the  seas  ?  But  a  few  men  need 
be  raised  up  in  the  spirit  of  Luther,  White- 
field,  Judson,  Carey,  Pearce,  and  Boardman ; 


INTRODUCTORY   ESSAY. 


but  a  few  women  in  the  spirit  of  Mrs.  Judson 
and  her  Missionary  sisters ;  but  a  few  grand 
onsets  need  to  be  made  against  the  kingdom 
of  darkness,  but  a  little  patient,  persevering 
toil,  and  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  will  be 
the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ. 

And  in  the  whole  progress  of  the  work  God 
is  interested.  He  gives  it  his  daily  superin- 
tendence and  aid.  He  is  its  patron  and  de- 
fender. And  Jesus  Christ,  who  gave  his  own 
example,  who  made  it  the  theme  of  his  last 
command,  who  has  promised  to  aid  the  Mis- 
sionary cause  and  those  who  are  engaged  in  it, 
who  has  received  the  Divine  pledge  and  prom- 
ise, that  he  shall  see  o  the  travail  of  his  soul 
and  be  satisfied,  and  who  is  now  daily  prosper- 
ing the  work,  —  and  our  eyes  see  it,  and  our 
hearts  feel  it,  —  may  be  trusted  as  the  defender 
and  supporter  of  this  cause.  The  unhealthy 
climes  where  the  Missionary  travels,  the  self- 
denials  he  endures,  the  persecutions  to  which 
he  is  subjected,  the  wearing  labors  by  which 
he  even  shortens  his  days,  all  will  be  amply 
compensated  when  he  brings  his  sheaves  with 


INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY. 


him  rejoicing ;  when  the  ripe  harvest  of  the 
earth  is  gathered,  and  he  that  soweth  and  he 
that  reaps  shall  rejoice  together.  The  sublime 
ceremonial  of  the  coronation  of  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth,  in  the 
presence  of  men  of  every  clime,  made  bis 
willing  subjects,  will  set  the  seal  of  heaven's 
approval  to  the  Missionary  enterprise,  and 
eternity  will  give  ample  testimony  from  its 
crowns,  and  its  thrones,  and  its  everlasting 
songs  to  the  value,  the  reasonableness,  and 
the  propriety  of  such  an  employment  of  hu- 
man energies. 

To  these  things  we  might  add,  that  we  find 
great  encouragement  in  this  work  from  the 
belief  we  confidently  cherish,  that  there  are 
now  among  the  glorified  just  great  numbers 
of  Christian  converts,  the  direct  fruits  of 
Missionary  effort,  —  once  degraded,  polluted 
idolaters,  now  washed,  and  sanctified,  and 
justified,  and  glorified;  not  only  exalted  to 
heaven,  but  also  made  meet  to  be  partakers  of 
the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light. 

The  connection  of  Jesus  Christ  with  the 


INTRODUCTORY   ESSAY 


Missionary  enterprise,  should  teach  his  fol- 
lowers how  to  think  and  act  in  respect  to  that 
cause.  The  Missionary  petition  in  the  Lord's 
prayer,  "  Thy  kingdom  come,"  is  put  first  af- 
ter the  address  and  ascription  of  glory  to  God, 
before  the  request  for  any  temporal  or  spirit- 
ual mercy  for  the  offerer.  The  command  to 
his  followers  to  go  and  teach  all  nations  even 
to  the  utmost  limits  of  the  world,  is  put  at 
the  close  of  all  his  instructions  on  earth,  the 
last  injunction  of  his  lips,  as  if  he  would  have 
the  echo  linger  in  the  world,  undisturbed  by 
any  after  teachings.  He  makes  this  subject, 
as  it  were,  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega  of  his 
instructions,  the  first  and  the  last,  the  opening 
and  the  close,  as  if  it  were  the  most  impor- 
tant of  all.  And  that  which  intervened,  — his 
instructions,  his  institutions,  and  his  atoning 
death,  these  are  the  necessary  means  by  whicii 
the  woi-k  was  to  be  accomplished.  Did  Christ 
set  the  work  on  such  a  pinnacle  in  his  interest 
and  his  affections  ?  Then  should  vre  exalt  it 
to  an  important  place.  Did  he  give,  do,  and 
suffer  so  much  for  it  ?  We  should  be  willing 
to  give,  do,  and  suffer  for  the  cause  that  lies 


INTRODUCTORY   ESSAY, 


SO  near  his  heart.  He  has  left  us  an  example 
that  wc  should  walk  in  his  steps.  Whatever 
Christ  the  Head  is  interested  in,  in  that  should 
all  his  members  be  interested  also. 

"We  should  feel  that  we  are  under  obliga- 
tion to  make  a  consecration  of  ourselves  to 
Christ  in  respect  to  this  work.  All  the  causes 
of  Christian  benevolence  are  branches  of  the 
same  system.  But  we  cannot  fail  to  see  that, 
in  a  peculiar  degree,  the  Missionary  cause  has 
the  seal  of  the  Divine  approval.  Let  every 
reader,  then,  renew  the  consecration  of  himself 
to  God  in  respect  to  this  work.  God  may  need 
some  of  us  personally  to  embark  in  it.  He 
demanded  the  services  of  the  first  Apostles, 
he  has  demanded  the  services  of  thousands 
since  in  this  department,  and  perhaps  he  may 
wish  to  employ  some  of  us,  —  reader,  perhaps 
yourself.  Let  us  not  withhold  the  sacrifice. 
It  may  require  self-denial  and  pain.  But  if 
we  yield  to  the  monitions  of  his  Spirit,  and 
go  at  his  bidding  to  preach  the  Gospel  among 
the  heathen,  we  may  be  sure  of  this,  that  he 
will  be  with  us  alway,  even  to  the  end  of  the 
world.    Perhaps  he  may  need  our  children  or 


INTRODUCTORY   ESSAY. 


our  friends.  Let  us  not  withhold  them  from 
so  honorable  an  office.  Dr.  Judson  is  no  more. 
But  this,  the  Missionary  age  of  the  Church, 
needs  more  Christian  heroes.  There  are 
places  of  trust  and  honor  to  be  filled ;  spheres 
of  wearing  labor  to  be  supplied ;  dangers  to 
be  dared ;  difficulties  to  be  met  and  conquered ; 
persecutions  to  be  endured,  lives  to  be  sac- 
rificed. But  he  that  falls  in  this  service,  falls 
gloriously,  and  shall  in  no  wise  lose  his  re- 
ward. 

May  the  sketch  of  Dr.  Judson  which  fol- 
lows stimulate  many  young  disciples  to  emu- 
late his  example. 


THE 

CHRISTIAN    HERO 

OF    THE 

NINETEENTH    CENTURY. 


I      When   a   great  statesman    or  a  distin- 

!  guished  hero  of  a  country  falls,  the  whole 

!  nation  is  moved  by  the  event.    Legislatures 
i 
adjourn,  courts  of  justice  rise  up  from  their 

j  sittings,  badges  of  mourning  are  worn,  flags 
I  fly  at  half-mast  on  our  shipping,  bells  toll, 
I  processions  are  formed ,  and  funeral  orations 
i  are  pronounced  all  over  the  land.     A  na- 
tion is  in  mourning  and  gives  forth  demon- 
strations of  grief.     Then  how  proper  that 
we,  as  Christians,  should  notice  the  decease 
of  a  man  of  God,  —  a  man  endeared  to  the 
1 


THE    CilUI.vTlAX    IIF-KO 


affections  of  the  whole  American  Church, — 
and  especially  that  we  should  notice  hix 
decease  who,  more  than  any  other  man  of 
his  age,  may  justly  claim  the  title  of  The 
Christian  Hero  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  ! 

I  know  of  no  man  in  modern  times, 
whose  life  has  been  a  more  eventful  one. 
and  which  bears  a  stronger  resemblance  to 
the  character  and  sufferings  of  the  Apostle 
Paul,  than  that  of  Adoniram  Judson.  How 
truly  is  the  language  primarily  spoken  of 
the  Apostle  descriptive  of  his  extraordinary 
career  :  "  /n  labors  more  abundant,  in  stripes 
above  measure,  in  jmsons  frequent ,  in  cleatlu 
oftr''  This  will  appear  more  striking  as 
we  proceed  to  notice  briefly  some  of  the 
more  important  events  connected  with  the 
history  of  this  Pioneer  of  ximerican  Mis- 
sions. 


:  1 XKTEKNTH    CENT UUY, 


MK.  JUDSON'S  BIRTH,  CONVERSION, 
AND  CONSECRATION  TO  THE 
MISSIONARY  WORK. 

Adoniram  Judson  was  born  in  Maiden, 
Massachusetts,  on  the  9th  of  August,  1788. 
And  though  the  son  of  a  Congregational 
clergyman,  and  the  subject  of  many  prayers, 
yet  he  grew  up  not  only  not  a  Christian, 
l)ut  not  even  a  believer  in  Christianity. 
lie  graduated  at  Brown  University,  in 
1807,  an  infidel.  Soon  afterwards  he  com- 
menced making  a  tour  through  the  United 
States.  But  some  Providential  occurrences, 
while  on  his  journey,  led  him  to  doubt  the 
truth  of  those  Deisticai  sentiments  with 
which  he  was  so  strongly  tinctured.  His 
mind  became  so  deeply  impressed  with  the 
probable  truth  and  Divine  authenticity  of 
the  Scriptures,  that  he  relinquished  his 
journey,  and  returned  to  his  father's  house 
for  the  express  purpose  of  examining 
thoroughly  the  claims  of  the  Christian  re- 
liorion. 


THE    CIIinSTIAX    IIEKO 


"  While  ling-erin^  in  the  city  of  Boston, 
he  happened  one  day  to  take  down,  from 
the  shelf  of  a  private  library,  a  volume 
which,  at  that  time,  was  a  favorite  house- 
hold book  among  Christian  readers.  It 
was  '  Hurnan  Nature  in  its  Fourfold  State,' 
by  Thomas  Boston,  a  minister  of  Ettrick, 
in  Scotland.  The  work  was  perused  by 
young  Judson  with  profound  attention,  and 
from  it  he  derived  new  views  of  sin  and  of 
redemption."  *  The  result  was,  he  became 
convinced  that  the  Scriptures  are  of  Divine 
origin,  and  that  he  himself  was  in  a  lost 
condition,  and  must  be  renewed  previous  to 
admittance  into  heaven.  It  now  became 
his  earnest  inquiry,  ^^  what  shall  I  do  to  he 
saved V^  The  Theological  Seminary  at 
Andover  was  about  this  time  established ; 
but  the  rules  of  the  Institution  required 
evidence  of  evangelical  piety  as  a  requisite 
for   admission.     Mr.  Judson  was  exceed- 

*  Dr.   Hague's  Discourse  on  the  Life  and  Character 
of  Dr.  Judson. 


OF    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY. 


ingly  desirous  of  entering  this  Seminary, 
for  the  purpose  of  being  benefited  by  the 
theological  lectures  ;  and  upon  making  a 
pressing  application,  notwithstanding  the 
absence  of  the  required  qualifications,  he 
was  admitted  ;  and,  in  a  few  weeks,  gave 
satisfactory  evidence  of  having  become 
savingly  interested  in  the  Great  Salvation. 
ilence  his  new  relations  to  God  put  him  into 
new  relations  to  everything  else.  His  un- 
derstanding, once  so  dark,  is  now  filled 
with  an  inundation  of  light,  —  he  has  be- 
come experimentally  acquainted  with  the 
heretofore  "  Unknown  God,"  his  frigid 
spirit  has  become  a  fervent  spirit,  and  his 
new  views  have  made  him  a  new  man. 
He  now  turned  his  attention  directly  to 
those  studies  calculated  to  make  him  useful 
in  the  ministry. 

During  the  last  year  of  his  studies  at 
Andover,  he  met  with  Dr.  Buchanan's 
"Star  in  the  East."*     This  first  led  his 

*  This  was  a  celebrated  sermon  preached  by    Dr. 


THE    CHRISTIAN   HERO 


thoughts  to  an  Eastern  mission.     The  sub- 
ject harassed  his  mind  from  day  to  day, 
and  he  felt  deeply  impressed  with  the  im-  j 
portance  of  making-  some  effort  to  rescue  I 
the   perishing  millions  of  the  East.      He  ; 
communicated  his  feelings  to  various  indi-  ; 
viduals,  and  they  all  decidedly  discouraged 
him.     But  his  soul  was  not  at  rest,  —  he  ! 
could  well  adopt  the  following  language,  j 
and  say,  —  j 

"  I  cannot  rest ;  there  cornea  a  strange 
And  secret  whisper  to  my  spirit,  like  j 

A  dream  of  night,  that  tells  me  I  am  on 
Enchanted  ground.     Why  live  I  here  1    The  vows    ' 
Of  God  are  on  me,  and  I  may  not  stop 
To  play  with  shadows  or  pluck  earthly  Ilowera, 
Till  I  my  work  have  done  and  rendered  up 
Account.    The  voice  of  my  departed  Lord, 
'  Go  teach  all  nations,'  from  the  Eastern  world 
Comes  on  the  nightair  and  awakes  my  ear, 
And  I  WILL  GO  !  " 

He  then  wrote  to  the  Directors  of  the 

Claudius  Buchanan  before  the  Church  of  England  Mis- 
sionary Society,  at  Bristol,  1808;  after  having  spent 
twelve  years  in  Lidia,  as  chaplain  in  the  service  of  the 
East  India  Company. 


OF    TilK    XIXETKICNTir    CIINTCRV 


London  Missionary  Society,  explaining  his 
views  and  requesting  information  on  the 
subject  of  Missions.  He  received  a  most 
encouraging  reply,  and  an  invitation  also 
to  visit  England  and  obtain  in  person  such 
information  as  he  desired.*  About  this 
time,  Messrs.  Nott,  Newell,  Hall,  and 
Mills  became  deeply  interested  in  the  sub- 
ject of  Missions,  and  they  all  resolved,  to- 
gether with  Mr.  Judson,  to  leave  their  na- 
tive land  and  engage  in  the  work  of  INIis- 
sionary  labor,  as  soon  as  Providence  should 
open  the  way. 

At  this  time  there  was  no  Missionary 
organization  whatever  in  this  country  ;  and 
as  these  young  men  were  Congregation- 
alists,  they  looked  of  course  to  their  own 
denomination  for  encouragement  and  sup- 
port. At  a  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts 
Association,  convened  at  Bradford  in  June, 
1810,  the  following  document,  drawn  up  by 
Mr.  Judson,  was  presented  :  — 

*  History  of  Burman  Mi.;sion. 


THE    CHKISTIAX   HEKO 


"  The  undersigned,  members  of  the  Di- 
vinity College,  respectfully  request  the  at- 
tention of  their  Reverend  Fathers,  con- 
vened in  the  General  Association  at  Brad- 
ford, to  the  following  statement  and  in- 
quiries :  — 

"They  beg  leave  to  state  that  their  minds 
have  been  lop.g  impressed  with  the  duty 
and  importance  of  personally  attempting  a 
Mission  to  the  heathen  ;  that  the  impres- 
sions on  their  minds  have  induced  a  serious, 
and,  they  trust,  a  prayerful  consideration  of 
the  subject  in  its  various  attitudes ;  partic- 
ularly in  relation  to  the  probable  success, 
and  the  difficulties  attending  such  an  at- 
tempt ;  and  that,  after  examining  all  the 
information  which  they  could  obtain,  they 
consider  themselves  as  devoted  to  this  work  ! 
for  life,  whenever  God  in  his  providence 
shall  open  the  way. 

"  They  now  offer  the  following  inquiries, 
on  which  they  solicit  the  opinion  and  advice 
of  this  Association.     Whether,  with  their 


OF    THE    XIXETEK^'Tll    Ci:XTLKV. 


present  views  and  feelings,  tliey  ouglit  to 
renounce  the  object  of  Missions  as  visionary 
or  impracticable  ;  if  not,  \A'hether  they  ought 
to  direct  their  attention  to  the  Eastern  or 
the  Western  world.  Whether  they  may 
expect  patronage  and  support  from  a  Mis- 
sionary society  in  this  country,  or  must 
commit  themselves  to  the  direction  of  a 
European  society,  and  what  preparatory 
measures  they  ought  to  take  previous  to 
actual  engagement  1 

"  The  undersigned,  feeling  their  youth 
and  inexperience,  look  up  to  their  Fathets 
in  the  Church,  and  respectfully  solicit  their 
advice,  direction,  and  prayers. 

"  Adoniram  Judson,  Jr.. 
Samuel  Nott,  Jr., 
Samuel  J.  Mills, 
Samuel  Newell." 
This  important  document,  on  its  presen- 
tation, was  referred  to  a  special  committee 
for  consideration,  who,  in  their  report,  rec- 
ognized the  imperative  obligation  and  im- 


THE    CHRISTIAN   IIETIO 


portance  of  Missions,  expressed  their  con- 
viction that  the  gentlemen  who  had  thus 
modestly  set  forth  their  views  ought  not 
to  renounce,  but  sacredly  cherish  their  im- 
pressions, and  submitted  the  outlines  of  a 
plan  which,  at  that  meeting',  was  carried 
into  effect,  in  the  appointment  of  a  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  for 
the  purpose  of  devising  ways  and  means, 
and  adopting  and  prosecuting  measures  for 
promoting  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  in 
heathen  lands.* 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  Missionary 
Enterprise  in  this  country,  and  we  claim 
uir  Adoniram  Judson  the  honor,  under 
God,  of  having  led  the  way,  and  of  having 
been  chiefly  instrumental  in  the  formation 
of  the  first  Missior«ary  Society  in  America.f 

*  Life  of  Samuel  J.  Mills. 

t  This  praise,  however,  by  some,  is  attributed  to 
;-'amuel  J.  Mills.     See  his  Memoirs. 


OF    THE    VTIXETEEN-TII    CEXTURY.  11 


j  MR.  JUDSON'S  VISIT  TO  ENGLAND. 

I  Mr.  Judson,  fearing  that  several  years 
i  might  elapse  before  a  Missionary  spirit 
!  should  be  sufficiently  excited  in  this  coun- 
:  try  to  justify  the  appointment  and  support 
!  of  Missionaries  abroad,  determined  at  once 
i  to  visit  England  to  ascertain  whether  auy 
•  measures  of  cooperation  could  be  concerted 
,  between  the  London  Missionary  Society 
I  and  the  friends  of  Missions  liere,  so  that 
!  assistance  could  be  obtained  in  case  the 
;  Board  in  this  country  should  be  unable  to 
I  sustain  a  Mission. 

i  He  sailed  in  January,  1811,  for  England. 
I  Three  weeks  after  sailing,  the  vessel  was 
,  captured  by  a  French  privateer,  where  he 

was  detained  for  several  weeks  on  board, 
I  and  afterwards  w^as  taken  on  shore  and 
',  confined  in  a  prison  at  Bayonne.  At  this 
I  time  Napoleon  Bonaparte  was  in  the  height 
!  of  his  career  of  military  glory  ;  and  it  so 

happened  that  the  building  in  which  young 


12  THE    CHKISTIAX   IIEIIO 

Judson  was  confined,  overlooked  the  public 
garden  in  which  the  Emperor  used  to  walk 
in  all  the  proud  consciousness  of  his  power. 
But  now  mark  the  contrast.  The  Emperor 
and  his  Empire  have  long  since  passed 
away  ;  but  this  captive  young  man,  whose 
name  was  then  unknown  to  fame,  and 
whose  cause,  so  far  as  it  was  known  to  the 
world,  was  an  object  of  contempt ;  that 
young  m.an  lias  lived  to  see  that  cause  fill- 
ing the  world  with  its  blessing  and  renown. 
How  striking  the  contrast,  also,  between 
the  course  of  life  pursued  by  these  two 
men  and  their  influence  upon  mankind. 
The  one  was  supremely  selfish  and  panting 
after  worldly  fame  ;  the  other  disinterested, 
and  aspiring  only  to  glorify  God.  The 
one  spent  his  life  in  destroying  men  ;  the 
other  devoted  all  his  energies  to  the  work 
of  saving  them.  The  one  became  the 
scourge  of  nations ;  the  other  the  bene- 
factor of  his  race.  The  one  went  rushing 
with  a  giant  stride  across  the  world,  tread- 


OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTUKY.    13 


in^  down  nations  at  every  step  ;  pressing 
his  way  to  empires  through  desolated  coun- 
tries,   pillaged    towns,    and    conflagrated 
cities,  and  over  the  gory,  lifeless  bodies  of 
I  slaughtered   thousands.     "  How   beautiful 
;  upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet"  of  the 
!  other   "  that   bringeth   good   tidings,    that 
i  publisheth  peace,  that  bringeth  good  tidings 
I  of  good,  that  publisheth  salvation,  that  saith 
I  unto  Zion,  thy  God  reigncth  !  "    The  death  i 
I  of  the  one  was  hailed  by  the  people  as  an  ' 
''  era  of  emancipation  from  fear  and  of  rest  | 
!  to  the  nations.     The  decease  of  the  other 
j  is  announced  amidst  the  wail  of  the  heathen, 
!  and  the  mournful,  desponding  cry  of  Chris- 
•;  tendom,    as   if  stricken    by  bereavement : 
j  "  My  Father,  My  Father,  the  cfaariots  of 
I  Israel  and  the  horsemen  thereof!  " 
}       Mr.    Judson,  by  -the  exertions  of  some 
American  gentlemen,   was   released   from 
prison,  vv'ent  to  England,  found  that  no  con- 
cert of  measures  could  be  effected,  returned 
to  America,  received  an  appointment  from 


14  THE    CHRISTIAN    HERO 

the  Board  of  Commissioners  as  Missionary 
to  India,  and  prepared  as  speedily  as  pos- 
Hsible  to  take 

^^  .         HIS  DEPARTUEE. 

Sc>4n:after  he  had  received  his  appoint- 
ment, Mr.  Judson  was  married  at  Bradford, 
on  the  ^th  of  February,  1812,  to  Miss  Ann 
Hasseltine, '"whose  subsequent  life  and 
character  have  shown  her  to  possess,  in  an 
eminent  degree,  thp  spirit  of  primitive 
Christianity,  and  who,  by  identifying  her 
intererts  with  •«lhos£  of  this  adventurous 
Missionary,  hasV  contributed  to  exert  a 
mighty  influence  ,and  to  pour  a  flood  of 
light  upon  tliB  'moral  destinies  of  Asia, 
which  slj^ll  flow  on  to  the  end  of  time, 
Mr.  Judson  was  ordained  and  consecrated 
to  the  work  of  Missions,  with  appropriate 
services,  in  the  Tabernacle  Church  at  Sa- 
lem, February  the  16th. 

On  the  19th  of  the  same  month,  a  vessel 
was  seen    speeding   its   way    out  of   the 


OF   THE    NIXETEEXTII    CENTURY.  15 

harbor  of  Salem,  bound  for  the  sunny 
climes  of  India,  freighted  with  the  richest 
boon  that  America  had  ever  offered  to  that 
luxurious  and  benighted  land.  On  board 
that  vessel  is  a  treasure  far  more  valuable 
than  the  richest  of  merchandise,  —  than  the 
spices  or  the  gold  of  India,  —  it  is  the  jfirst 
Company  of  American  Missionaries  to 

THE  BENIGHTED   IDOLATERS    OF  THE  EaST.* 

That  was  a  day  memorable  in  the  annals 
of  Missions,  and  will   be  chronicled  as  a 
most  important  event  by  the  Christian  his- 
j  lorian  oXthe  nineteenth  century.     On  the 
'  deck  of  that  vessel  stands  a  youthful  ser- 
I  vant  of  God,  who  ii  speeding  his  way  to 
the   teeming   millions   of  Burmah  ;    "  the 
land  of  lofty  pagodas  and  countless  idols," 
and  by  whose  instrumentality,  in  the  lapse 
of  a  few  years,  God  shall  make  "  the  wil- 
derness and  the  solitary  place  to  be  glad, 
and  the  desert  to  rejoice  and  blossom  as 
the  rose." 

*Jud3on  Offering. 


IG  THE    CIII:ISTIAN    IJ.IirtO 

One  thing-  there  was  connected  with  the 
departure  of  this  heroic  band  of  Mission- 
aries, wliich  must  have  rendered  their  con- 
dition exceedingly  trying  and  affecting  ; 
and  that  was  the  fact  that  they  were  al- 
most deserted  when  about  to  take  their  leave 
of  home  and  country.  By  many  their  zeal 
was  despised  as  fanaticism,  and  their  self- 
consecration  to  their  holy  work  derided  as 
"  wild  extravagance  and  romantic  folly.'" 
Now  hundreds  assemble  at  the  embarka- 
tion of  a  Missionary  ;  and  he  sails  away 
amid  the  prayers  of  numerous  friends  ;  and 
the  breeze  that  wafts  him  from  the  shore 
bears  on  its  wings  the  music  of  song,  of 
congratulation,  and  hope;  and  even  after 
the  vessel  fades  away  in  the  distance,  it  is 
followed  with  a  "God  speed  you"  to  the 
shores  of  heathen  lands.  But  far  different 
was  the  scene  when  these  noble  pioneers 
embarked  on  their  errand  of  love.  No 
thronging  multitude  accompanied  them  to 
the  ship,  no  minister  of  Christ  was  there 


OF  THE  XIXETEEXTH  CENTURY.    17 

to  cheer  them  by  his  parting  blessing,  no 
public,  parting  prayer  was  offered  on  the 
deck,  commending  Judson  and  Newell,  and 
their  devoted  wives  to  the  God  of  the  winds 
and  the  waves  when  they  went  on  ship- 
board. Says  Dr.  Judson,  in  an  address* 
delivered  during  his  visit  to  this  country, 
and  referring  to  the  sailing  of  the  first  com- 
pany of  Missionaries  :  "  When  your  Mis- 
sionaries left  your  shores,  very  few  were 
v/illing  to  be  known  as  approving  of  their 
enterprise.  Two  young  men  about  to  go 
from  their  homes  to  the  heathen,  on  the 
morning  of  their  departure  from  their  na- 
tive land,  were  addressed  by  the  Secretary 
of  a  Missionary  society  as  they  sat  at  his 
breakfast-table,  as  follows :  '  Brethren,  I 
have  business  that  demands  my  attention 
to-day  in  a  neighboring  town  ;  you  will 
therefore  have  to  excuse  me  from  going 
with  you  to  your  vessel ! '     Those  young 

*  Address  at  the  Cannon  Street  Baptist  Church,  New 
York,  November,  1845. 
2 


18  TilK    CHRISTIAN    IIKKO 

men  went  silently  and  alone  ;  and  though 
there  was  not  a  minister  who  was  willing 
to  hazard  his  reputation  by  countenancing 
what  was  regarded  as  an  enthusiastic  en- 
terprise, yet  when  they  threw  themselves 
on  their  knees  in  their  lonely  cabin,  they 
heard  or  felt  a  voice  saying,  '  you  are  not 
alone  ,for  I  am  with  you  /  '  "     And  yet  this 
band  of  noble  men,   of  whom   the   world 
was  scarce  worthy,  did   not  shrijdc  from  ' 
dutj.     They  could  and  did  cheerfully  tear  i 
asunder  the  tender  and  endearing  ties  which 
bound   them   to   country,    and   home,  and  ; 
friends ;  they  renounced  the  comforts  and  j 
privileges  of  a   Christian   land,  —  its    so-  i 
cial  enjoyments,  its  Christian  sympathies,  j 
its  holy   Sabbaths,  its  solemn  assemblies  i 
and  sacred  teachings,  —  all  these  they  for 
sook,  and   though   left   to   embark   alone 
they  could  turn  to  the  elements  and  ex 
claim, — 

"  Bear  us  on,  thou  restless  ocean, 
Let  the  winds  our  canvas  swell ; 


OF   THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.         19 

Heave  our  hearts  with  warm  emotion 
While  we  go  far  hence  to  dwell : 

Glad  we  bid  thee, 
Native  land,  farewell,  farewell !  " 


MR.  JUD SON'S  CHANGE  OF  DENOM- 
INATIONAL SENTIMENTS. 

This  was  an  event  in  his  life,  which 
neither  himself  nor  his  friends  were  pre- 
pared to  anticipate.  The  news  that  Mr. 
Judson  had  become  a  Baptist,  come  like  a 
thunder-bolt  upon  his  denomination  ;  and 
indeed  upon  the  whole  country.  But  God 
and  truth,  upon  a  thorough  examination  of 
the  subject,  overcome,  what  Mr.  Judson  is 
pleased  to  style  his  "  strong  prejudices," 
and  whenever  and  wherever  truth  was 
presented  to  his  mind,  he  was  the  man  to 
embrace  that  truth,  though  the  "  heavens 
should  fall." 

I  cannot  do  better  on  this  point  than  to 
present  a  few  extracts  from  a  letter  *  of  his, 

*  Written  from  Rangoon,  in  1S17. 


20  THE    CHRISTIAN   HERO 

directed  to  the  Third  Church  in  Plymouth, 
of  which  he  was  formerly  a  member,  and 
of  which  his  father  was  then  pastor,  giving 
some  reasons  which  constrained  him  to  be- 
come a  Baptist. 

"  You  will  readily  believe  me,"  says  he, 
"  when  I  say  that  on  leaving  my  country, 
I  little  imagined  that  I  should  ever  become 
a  Baptist.  /  had  not,  indeed,  candidly  ex- 
amined *  the  subject  of  baptism ;  but  I  had 
strong  prejiulices  against  the  '  sect  that  is 
everywhere  spoken  against.' 

"  It  was  on  board  the  vessel,  in  prospect 
of  my  future  life  among  the  heathen,  that 
I  was  led  to  investigate  this  important  sub- 
ject. I  was  going  forth  to  proclaim  the 
glad  news  of  salvation  through  Jesus  Christ. 
I  hoped  that  my  ministrations  would  be 
blessed  to  the  conversion  of  souls.  In  that 
case,  I  felt  that  I  should  have  no  hesitation 

*  Are  there  not  many  Psedobaptists  who  take  the 
truth  of  this  subject  for  granted,  without  ever  having 
"  candidly  examined  "  it  ? 


OF    TlIE    NINETEENTH    CI:NTUKY.  21 

concerning  my  duty  to  the  converts,  it  be- 
ing plainly  commanded  in  the  Scripture, 
that  such  arc  to  be  baptized  and  received 
into  church  fellowship.  But  how,  thought 
I,  am  I  to  treat  the  unconverted  children 
and  domestics  of  the  converts  1  xYre  they 
to  be  considered  members  of  the  Churcli 
of  Christ,  by  virtue  of  the  conversion  of 
the  head  of  their  family,  or  not  ?  If  they 
are,  ought  I  not  to  treat  them  as  such?-  ]f 
they  are  not  to  be  considered  members  of 
the  Church,  can  I,  consistently,  administer 
to  them  the  initiating  ordinance  of  the 
Church  1  * 

"  When  I  proceeded  to  consider  cer- 
tain passages,"  he  continues,  "which  are 
thought  to  favor  the  Psedobaplist  system,  1 
found  nothing  satisfactory. 

*  Tt  appears  that  this  glarin;?  inconsistency  had,  for 
the  first  time,  preseiited  itself  to  the  iHind  of  Mr.  Jud- 
son.  If  baptized  children  are  meniberj  of  th.e  Church, 
then  why  not  allow  them  to  come  to  the  commutiion, 
and  enjoy  all  the  privileges  of  the  Church  ?  If  they  arj 
not  members,  then  why  administer  to  them  an  ordinance 
of  the  Church  ? 


TllK    CIIKISTIAX    IMMO 


"The   declaration  of  St.  Peter:   'The 

promise  is  unto  you,  and  to  your  children, 

and  to  all  that  are  afar  off,  even  as  many 

as  the  Lord  our  God  shall  call '  (Acts  ii. 

39)  appeared  not  to  bear  at  all  upon  the 

point  in  hand,  because  the  Apostle  docs 

not  command  his  hearers  to  have  their  chil- 

!  dren  baptized,  or  acknowledged  as  mem- 

j  hers  of  the  Church),  but  to  repent  and  be 

I  Ijaptized  themselves.     There  is,  indeed,  a 

I  promise  made  to/iyeii;  children,  and  to  all 

I  others  that  shari.^all  ;  but  it. does  not  fol- 

j  low  that  they  wdre  to  procure  the  baptism 

I  of  their  children,  or  of  those   that   were 

!  afar  off,  unti)"  they  gave  evidence  that  God 

j  had  called  them.  , 

j  "  When  Christ  said,  concerning  little 
I  children,  that  '  Of  such  is  tlie  kingdom  of 
heaven  '  (Matt.  xix.  14),  it  appeared  to 
me  that  his  cornparison  had  respect,  not  to 
the  age  or  size  of  little  children,  but  to 
the  humility  and  docility  which  distinguish 
them  from  adults.     This  seemed  to  be  put 


OF   TflE   NIXETEEXTII    CKXTURY,  23 

beyond  a  doubt,  by  his  own  explanation, 
in  a  similar  passage,  in  which  he  says  : 
'  Except  ye  be  converted  and  become  as 
little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.'  (Matt,  xviii.  3.) 

"The  baptism  of  households,  which  is 
mentioned  in  three  instances,  I  could  not 
consider  as  affording  any  evidence  one  way 
or  the  other,  because  in  a  household  there 
may  be  infants  and  unbelieving  domestics, 
and  there  may  not.     Besides,  I  discovered 
some  circumstances  in  each  of  the  cases, 
which  led  me  to  conclude  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  households  were  real  believers,  i 
They  are  expressly  said  to  be  so  in  the  j 
case  of  the  jailor  (Acts  xvi.  34),  and  the  j 
same  is  evidently  implied  in  the  case  of  | 
Stephanas,  when  it  is  said  that  '  they  ad-  | 
j  dieted  themselves  to  the  ministry.'    (1  Cor. 
xvi.  15.) 

"  In  a  word,  I  could  not  find  a  single 
intimation  in  the  New  Testament,  that  the 
children  and  domestics  of  believers  were 


-4  THE    CHRISTIAN    HUUO 

members  of  the  Church  or  entitled  to  any 
Church  ordinance,   in  consequence  of  the 
profession    of  the    head   of  their    family. 
Every   thing    discountenanced    this    idea. 
j  When  baptism  was  spoken  of,  it  was  al- 
i  ways  in  connection  with  believing.     None 
{  but  believers  were  commanded  to  be  bap- 
tized ;   and  it  did  not  appear  to  my  mind 
that  any  others  were  baptized. 

'■  There  was  another  thing  which  great- 
ly contributed,  just  at  this  time,  to  driA'e 
rr.G  to  an  extremity.  I  knew  that  I  liad 
been  sprinkled  in  infancy,  and  that  this 
had  been  deemed  baptism.  But  through- 
out the  whole  New  Testament,  I  could  find 
notiiing  that  looked  like  sprinkling  in  con- 
nection with  the  ordinance  of  baptism.  It 
appeared  to  me,  that  if  a  plain  person 
should,  without  any  previous  information 
on  the  subject,  read  through  the  New  Tes- 
tament, he  Vv'ould  never  get  the  idea  that 
baptism  consisted  in  sprinkling.  He  would 
find  that  baptism,  in  all  cases  particularly 


OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTL'iiY.  1!.J 

described,  was  administered  in  rivers,  and 
that  the  parties  are  represented  as  going 
down  into  the  loaier,  and  coming  vp  out  of 
the  water,  which  they  would  not  have  been 
so  foolish  as  to  do,  for  the  purpose  of 
sprinkling. 

"  In  regard  to  the  word  itself,  which  is 
translated  baptism,  a  very  little  search  con- 
vinced me  that  its  plain,  appropriate  mean- 
ing was  immersion  or  dipping  ;  and  though 
I  read  extensively  on  the  subject,  I  could 
not  find  that  any  learned  Psedobaptist  had 
ever  been  able  to  produce  an  instance  from 
any  Greek  writer,  in  which  it  meant 
sprinkling,  or  any  thing  but  immersion  ; 
except  in  some  figurative  applications, 
which  could  not  be  fairly  brought  into 
question.  The  Rev.  Professor  Campbell, 
D.  D.,  of  Scotland,  the  most  learned  Greek 
scholar  and  biblical  critic  of  modern  times, 
has  the  candor  to  declare  (though  he  was 
no  Baptist,  and  therefore  not  to  be  sus- 
pected of  partiality  to  the  Baptist  system), 


26  THK    CHKISTIAX    HKRO 

that  the  word  was  never,  so  far  as  he 
knew,  employed  in  the  sense  of  sprinkling, 
in  any  age,  sacred  or  classical.  (See  Note 
on  Malt.  iii.  11.) 

"  Suffice  it  to  say,  that,  whereas  a  con- 
sideration of  the  nature  of  the  Church  con- 
vinced me  that  I  had  never  received  Chris- 
tian baptism,  so  also  a  consideration  of 
the  nature  of  baptism  convinced  me  that 
I  had  never  been  baptized  at  all,  —  nothing 
being  baptism  but  immersion. 

"  Reduced  to  this  extremity,  what,  dear 
brethren,  could  I  do  ?  I  saw  that  in  a 
double  sense  I  was  unbaptized  ;  and  1  felt 
the  command  of  Christ  press  on  my  con- 
science. Now  if  I  quieted  my  conscience 
in  regard  to  my  own  personal  baptism,  and 
concluded  that  on  account  of  my  peculiar 
circumstances,  it  was  best  to  consuh  my 
own  convenience,  rather  than  the  command 
of  Christ,  still  the  question  would  return 
with  redoubled  force,  How  am  I  to  treat 
the  children    and    domestics    of  converted 


OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTUKY.    27 

heathen?  This  was  the  beginning  of  all 
my  difficulties,  and  this,  on  Pasdobaptist 
principles,  I  could  not  resolve  by  the  Bible 
or  by  any  books  that  I  consulted. 

"Must  I  then  forsake  my  parents,  the 
Church  with  which  I  stand  connected,  the 
society  under  whose  patronage  I  have  come 
out,  and  the  companions  of  my  IMissionary 
undertaking  1  Must  I  forfeit  the  good  opin- 
ion of  all  my  friends  in  my  native  land, 
occasioning  grief  to  some  and  provoking 
others  to  anger,  and  be  regarded  henceforth 
by  all  my  former  dear  acquaintances  as  a 
weak,  despicable  Baptist,  who  has  not  sense 
enough  to  comprehend  the  connection  be- 
tween the  Abrahamic  and  the  Christian 
systems  ?  All  this  was  mortifying,  —  it 
was  hard  to  flesh  and  blood.  But  I  thought 
again  ;  it  was  better  to  be  guided  by  the 
opinion  of  Christ,  who  is  the  Truth,  than 
by  the  opinion  of  men,  however  good, 
whom  I  know  to  be  in  error.  The  praise 
of  Christ  is  better  than  the  praise  of  men. 


23  Tlli;    CHKISTIAN    HKllO 

Let  me  cleave  to  Christ  at  all  events,  and  ' 
prefer  his  favor  above  my  chief  joy."  I 

It  may  be  interesting-  to  introduce  two 
or  three  extracts  here,  to  show  how  Mrs. 
Judson's  mind  was  affected  by  the  exami- 
nation of  this  subject.  \ 

In  writing-  to  her  parents  and  sisters,  ' 
g-iving  some  account  of  her  change  of  sen-  > 
timents,  she  says:  "Mr.  Judson's  doubts  • 
commenced   while    on    our   passag-e   from  ' 
America.      While    translating    the    New  ■ 
Testament,  in  which  he  was  engaged,  he  : 
used  frequently  to  say  that   the  Baptists  l 
were  right  in  their  mode  of  administering  ' 
the  ordinance.     Knowing  that  he  should 
meet  the  Baptist  Missionaries  at  Seram- 
pore,  he  felt  it  important  to  attend  to  it  ' 
more  closely  to  be  able  to  defend  his  sen- 
timents. 

"  1  was  very  fearful  he  would  become  a 
Baptist,  and  frequently  suggested  the  un- 
happy consequences  if  he  did.     1  tried  to  : 
have  him  give  it  up  and  rest  satisfied  with 


OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  29 

his  old  sentiments,  and  frequently  told  him 
j  if  he  did  become  a  Baptist  /  ivould  not. 
!  He  always  answered,  that  his  duty  com- 
!  pelled  him  to  examine  the  subject,  and  he 
\  hoped  he  should  have  a  disposition  to  em- 
brace the  truth,  though  he  should  pay  dear 
for  it. 
i       "  I  now  commenced  reading  on  the  sub- 
I  ject,  with  all  my  prejudices  on  the  Paedo- 
;  baptist  side.     I  confined  my  attention  al- 
i  most  entirely  to  the  Scriptures ;  compared 
[  the  Old  with  the  New  Testament,  and  tried 
j  to  find  something  to  favor  infant  baptism, 
!  but  was   convinced  it  had   no   foundation 
j  there.*    We  had  with  us  Dr.  Worcester's, 
I  Dr.  Austin's,  Peter  Edwards's,  and  other 
Psedobaptist   writings.     But   after   closely 
examining  the  subject  for  several  weeks, 
we  were  constrained  to  acknowledge  that 

*  If  persons,  in  the  examination  of  this  subject, 
should  confine  "their  attention  almost  entirely  to  the 
Scriptures,"  the  result,  in  all  cases,  would  probably  be 
the  same. 


30  THE    CHRISTIAN    HEliO 

the  truth  appeared  to  lie  on  the  Baptist's 
side." 

I  find  the  following  entry  in  her  Journal 
during  her  investigation  of  this  subject :  — 

"  September  1st.  I  have  been  examin- 
ing the  subject  of  Baptism  for  some  time 
past,  and,  contrary  to  my  prejudices  and 
my  wishes,  am  compelled  to  believe  that 
believers'  baptism  alone  is  found  in  the 
Scriptures.  If  ever  I  sought  to  know  the 
truth,  if  ever  I  looked  up  to  the  Father  of 
Lights,  if  ever  I  gave  up  myself  to  the 
inspired  Word,  I  have  done  so  during  this 
investigation.  And  the  result  is,  that,  lay- 
ing aside  my  former  prejudices  and  sys- 
tems, and  fairly  appealing  to  the  Scriptures, 
I  feel  convinced  that  nothing  really  can  be 
said  in  favor  of  infant  baptism  or  sprinkling. 
We  expect  soon  to  be  baptized.  O  may 
our  hearts  be  prepared  for  that  holy  ordi- 
nance !  But  in  consequence  of  the  perform- 
ance of  this  duty,  we  must  make  some  very 
painful  sacrifices.     We  must  be  separated 


J 


OF  THE  XIXETEENTK  CENTURY.    31 

from  our  dear  Missionary  associates,  and 
labor  alone  in  some  isolated  spot.  We 
must  expect  to  be  treated  with  contempt 
and  cast  off  by  many  of  our  American 
friends,  —  forfeit  the  character  we  have  in 
our  native  land,  probably  have  to  labor  for 
our  own  support  v/herever  we  are  stationed. 
O,  our  Heavenly  Father,  wilt  thou  be  our 
friend?"* 

Consequently,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  were 
baptized  in  Calcutta,  on  Lord's  day,  Sept. 
27th,  1812,  by  Rev.  Mr.  Ward  of  the 
English  Baptist  Mission,  on  which  occa- 
sion Mr.  Judson  preached  a  sermon  on 
Baptism,  which  Dr.  Carey,  in  a  letter  to 
Dr.  Staughton,  says,  is  "  the  best  sermon 
I  ever  heard  on  that  subject."  f 

The  plan  of  that  sermon,  is  as  follows : 
He  raised  two  inquiries.  First,  "  What  is 
Baptism?     Second,  To  whom  is  Baptism 

*  Memoir  of  Ann  H.  Judson,  Chap.  IV. 
t  Five  editions  of  this  sermon  have  been  published  in 
Boston. 


32  THE    CHRISTIAN   IlEKO 

to  be  administered'^  "  Under  the  first  head 
he  proceeds  to  show  that  baptism  consists 
only  in  immersion.  This  he  proves,  first 
from  the  signification  of  the  term,  which 
is  immersion ;  second,  from  the  places  se- 
lected for  administering  the  ordinance ; 
they  were  "  rivers,"  "  much  water,"  &c.  ; 
third,  from  the  fact  that  baptism  is  re- 
peatedly compared  to  a  burial^  which  could 
have  no  meaning  in  case  of  sprinkling ; 
fourth,  from  the  almost  universal  practice 
of  the  Christian  Church  immersing  for  the 
space  of  thirteen  hundred  years.  Under 
the  second  head  he  shows,  after  a  long  and 
elaborate  investigation,  that  there  is  no  au- 
thority whatever  derived  from  the  Scrip- 
tures for  administering  the  ordinance  to  any 
except  believers.  The  baptism  of  house- 
holds, he  contends,  afford  no  evidence  of 
the  baptism  of  infants,  because  the  pre- 
sumption is,  they  contain  none  ;  the  bap- 
tism of  infants  cannot  be  derived  from  cir- 
cumcision under  the  Abrahamic  covenant, 


OF   THE   NIXETEEXTII   CENTURY.  33 

because  the  two  covenants  are  essentially 
different ;  and  also  the  former  covenant  has 
been  abolished,  that  the  latter  might  be  in- 
troduced ;  and  hence  he  is  compelled  to 
conclude  that  there  is  "  no  precept  or  prece- 
deyit  in  Scripture  for  infant  baptism^ 

If  ever  a  change  of  opinion  was  made 
deliberately  and  consistently,  it  must  have 
been  in  this  case.  For  every  possible  mo- 
tive, but  the  fear  of  God  and  the  power  of 
truth,  must  have  impellqxl  them  in  an  op- 
posite direction.  It  was  a  step  directly 
against  all  the  prejudices  of  their  early  ed- 
ucation and  associations,  and  contrary  to 
all  their  present  interests  and  engagements. 
It  would  inevitably  separate  them  from  the 
sympathies  of  their  friends  ;  it  would  dis- 
solve their  connection  with  the  Board  by 
whose  appointment  they  were  sent  out,  and 
on  whose  funds  they  were  dependent  for 
support ;  it  would  connect  them  wdth  a  de- 
nomination to  whose  members  they  were 
strangers,  and  who  had,  as  yet,  no  Mis- 


34  THE    CHRISTIAN   HERO 

sionary  organization,  and  who,  indeed,  had 
manifested  but  little  interest  in  Missions ; 
in  view  of  all  these  circumstances,  their 
change  of  sentiment  is  not  only  singular 
and  remarkable,  but  presents  an  act  of 
moral  grandeur  unequalled  since  the  days 
of  the  Apostles  and  Martyrs. 


MR.  JUDSON'S    SETTLEMENT   AT 
RANGOON. 

When  the  little  band  of  Missionaries 
reached  the  shores  of  India,  they  were 
destined  to  meet  discouragements,  such  as  j 
might  well  have  appalled  any  but  the  most  j 
unshaken  and  resolute  faith.  The  country  | 
to  which  they  had  come  was  under  the  \ 
government  of  the  British  East  India  Com-  I 
pany,  the  Directors  of  which,  at  that  time,  | 
were  unfriendly  to  the  introduction  of  j 
Christianity  among  the  heathen,  and  who,  i 
at  all  events,  determined  not  to  permit  the  I 


OF    THE   NINETEENTH   CENTUKT.  35 


presence  of  American  Missionaries  within 
their  jurisdiction.  Hence  they  had  scarcely 
touched  their  shores,  when  they  were  in- 
formed, by  an  order  of  the  government, 
that  they  must  return  without  delay  to  the 
United  States,  and  that  the  captain  of  the 
ship  who  had  brought  them  to  Calcutta 
would  not  receive  a  clearance,  unless  he 
would  engage  to  take  them  back.  Thus  a 
dark  cloud  suddenly  gathered  over  their 
heads,  and  threatened  to  blight  all  their 
expectations  of  usefulness  to  the  benighted 
heathen.  They  however  obtained  permis- 
sion to  embark  in  a  vessel  bound  to  the 
Isle  of  France,  in  hope  that  they  might 
there  establish  a  Mission.  But  the  vessel 
could  accommodate  only  two  passengers ; 
and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Newell  took  passage, 
the  others  remaining  behind,  anxiously 
waiting  the  departure  of  another  vessel. 
At  the  end  of  three  months,  another  order 
from  government  was  issued,  ordering  Mr. 
Judson  and  his  wife  immediately  to  take 


36  THE  cnRiSTiA>r  hero 

passage  in  one  of  the  Company's  ships 
bound  to  England,  and  caused  their  names 
to  be  printed  in  the  official  list  of  passen- 
gers in  a  vessel  about  to  sail ;  at  the  same 
time  sending  an  officer  to  their  residence 
commanding  them  not  to  leave  the  house 
without  permission. 

At  this  crisis  their  last  hopes  appeared 
to  be  cut  off.  But  just  at  this  time,  Mr. 
Judson  learned  that  a  vessel  was  about  to 
sail  to  the  Isle  of  France ;  they  applied  to 
the  magistrate  for  a  pass,  but  were  refused. 
Still  the  captain  consented  to  take  them 
without  the  usual  papers  from  government 
if  they  chose  to  incur  the  risk.  They  em- 
barked at  twelve  o'clock  at  night,  and  con- 
tinued for  two  days  to  proceed  on  their 
voyage,  when  they  were  overtaken  by  a 
government  despatch,  forbidding  the  ves- 
sel to  proceed,  as  there  were  on  board  pas- 
sengers who  had  been  ordered  to  England. 
They  were  obliged,  therefore,  to  disembark. 
With  heavy  hearts  they  went  on  shore,  — 


OF  THE  NIXKTEEXTTI  CENTUKY.    37 

it  was  unsafe  to  remain  there  ;  hence  they 
made  use  of  every  possible  inducement 
they  could  offer  to  the  vessels  passing  to 
take  them  on  board,  but  without  success. 
I  After  remaining  on  shore  four  days  in  a 
I  state  of  great  anxiety  and  danger,  a  letter 
I  from  some  unknown  friend  was  brought  to 
Mr.  Judson,  containing  permission  to  go 
on  board  the  ship  they  had  so  lately  been 
compelled  to  leave ;  but  which,  if  she  had 
not  already  gone  to  sea,  was  lying  at  the 
Saugar  roads,  a  distance  of  at  least  seventy 
miles.  They  set  out  at  once,  and,  amid 
the  darkness  of  the  night,  pursued  their 
course,  rowing  an  open  boat,  and  before 
the  night  of  the  next  day,  to  their  inex- 
pressible joy,  succeeded  in  reaching  the 
ship,  and  proceeded  on  their  voyage  to  the 
Isle  of  France. 

After  a  residence  of  three  months  on  this 
island,  Mr.  Judson  embarked  for  Madras  ; 
here,  also,  he  encountered  new  proofs  of 
violent  opposition  to  JMissionary  labor  from 


38  TUB    CHRISTIAN    IIBRO 

the  Directors  of  the  government  of  India. 
The  Rev.  Messrs.    Hall   and   Nott,  in   a 
neighboring  presidency,  had  just  been  or- 
dered to  embark  for  England,  and  Mr.  Jud- 
son  had  reason  to  suppose,  if  his  arrival 
should  be  known,  a  similar  order  vi^ould  be 
issued  for  his  departure.     His  first  object, 
therefore,  was  to  ascertain  what  ships  were 
I  lying  in  harbor  ready  for  sea.     He  found 
j  only  one,  and  that  was  bound  to  Rangoon, 
i  the  chief  port  of  the  Busman  Empire,  and 
1  without  delay  he  secured  a  passage  for  that 
j  place. 

j  The  passage  from  Madras  to  Rangoon 
I  was  a  boisterous  and  dangerous  one,  and 
I  more  than  once  the  ship  came  near  being 
,  cast  upon  some  of  those  hidden  reefs  which 
I  line  t]ie  coral  shores  of  the  Indian  seas. 
j  After  a  passage  of  three  weeks,  they  at 
I  length  came  to  anchor  in  the  harbor  of 
i  Rangoon,  and  gazed  for  the  first  time  upon 
I  the  pagodas  of  this  ancient  town,  with  their 
j  lofty  spires  and  pointed  minarets  standing 
'  against  tlio  sky. 


OP    THE    NIXETEEXTH    CEXTUKY.         39 

Thus  nearly  seventeen  months  had  elapsed 
since  Mr.  Judson  sailed  from  Salem,  and 
how  checkered  and  eventful  had  been  his 
career  thus  far  ;  how  mysterious  the  way 
in  which  God  had  led  him,  —  defeated  in 
every  plan  he  had  formed,  driven  from  the 
countries  he  had  entered,  harrassed  and 
perplexed  by  the  men  who  ought  to  have 
encouraged  and  befriended  him,  separated 
by  change  of  sentiments  from  those  with 
whom  he  had  always  been  associated,  and 
having  met  scarcely  any  thing  but  disaster 
and  disappointment  at  every  step,  here  at 
length  the  cloudy  pillar  rested.  Other 
fields  of  labor  had  been  closed  against  him, 
and  Burmah,  with  its  thousands  of  idola- 
ters, seems  alone  to  have  been  the  land 
which  Heaven  had  selected  as  the  scene 
of  his  future  labors! 


40  THE    CHRISTIAN    HERO 


THE  riEST   CONVERT. 

About  four  years  had  passed  away,  dur- 
ing which  time  this  devoted  servant  of  God 
and  his  companions,  had  been  going  "  forth 
weeping  and  bearing  precious  seed."  He 
had  toiled,  and  prayed,  and  preached,  month 
after  month,  and  year  after  year,  uncheered 
by  a  single  instance  of  conversion  ;  and  all 
this  time  was  regarded  by  the  millions  of 
perishing  heathen  around  him  only  as  an 
object  of  idle  curiosity,  of  sovereign  con- 
tempt or  utter  indifference.  Here  was  the 
trial  of  his  faith  ;  how  many  would  have 
abandoned  such  a  field  of  labor  as  imprac- 
ticable? But  God  now  appeared  for  the 
encouragement  of  his  servant.  "  They  that 
sow  in  tears,  shall  heap  in  joy  !  " 

"  As  I  was  sitting,"  says  Dr.  Judson,* 
"  with  my  teacher  us  usual,  a  Burman  of 
respectable    appearance,    followed    by   his 

*  Litter  to  Correspoiidiiig  Secretary,  March,  1817. 


OF    THE    NINETEEKTII    CENTURY.         41 

servant,  came  up  the  steps  and  sat  down 
by  me.  '  How  long-,'  he  inquired,  '  will  it 
take  me  to  learn  the  religion  of  Jesus  1 ' 
That  question,  I  replied,  cannot  be  an- 
swered. If  God  give  light  and  wisdom, 
the  religion  of  Jesus  is  soon  learned.  But 
without  God,  a  man  may  study  all  his  life 
and  make  no  proficiency.  But,  I  contin- 
ued, how  came  you  to  know  any  thing  of 
Jesus  ?  Have  you  been  here  before  1  '  No.' 
Have  you  seen  any  writings  concerning 
Jesus'?  'I  have  seen  two  little  books.' 
Who  is  Jesus'?  '  He  is  Son  of  God,  who, 
pitying  creatures,  came  to  this  world  and 
suffered  death  in  their  stead.'  Who  is 
God?  '  He  is  a  Being  without  beginning 
or  end ,  who  is  not  subjected  to  old  age  or 
death,  but  always  is.' 

"  I  cannot  tell,"  says  Dr.  Judson,  "  how 
I  felt  at  that  moment.  This  was  the  first 
acknowledgment  of  an  Eternal  God  that  I 
had  ever  heard  from  Burman  lips." 

This  is  the  first  inquirer,  who,  after 

4 


42  THE    CHRISTIAN   HERO 

about  four  years  of  toil,  and  tears,  and 
prayers,  and  hope  deferred,  asked  about 
Jesus  Christ  and  his  religion. 

And  yet  it  is  not  till  nearly  two  years 
afterwards  that  he  is  permitted  to  rejoice 
over  the  first  convert.  A  young  man  had 
frequently  been  present  at  his  place  of  wor- 
ship, concerning  whom  Dr.  Judson  makes 
the  following  entry  in  his  journal :  — 

"  Moung  Nau  has  been  with  me  several 
hours,  and  I  begin  to  think  that  the  grace 
of  God  has  reached  his  heart.  He  ex- 
presses sentiments  of  repentance  for  his 
sins  and  faith  in  the  Saviour.  The  sub- 
stance of  his  profession  is,  that  from  all  the 
darkness  and  sins  of  his  whole  life,  he  has 
found  no  other  Saviour  but  Jesus  Christ ; 
nowhere  else  can  he  look  for  Salvation  ; 
and  therefore  he  proposes  to  adhere  to 
Christ  and  worship  him  all  his  life. 

"  It  seems  almost  too  much  to  believe 
that  God  has  begun  to  manifest  his  grace 
to  the  Burmans ;  but  this  day  I  could  not 


OF  THE  NIXETEEXTII  CENTURY.    43 


resist  the  delightful  conviction,  that  this 
is  really  the  case.     Praise  and  glory  be 

TO   HIS    NAME,    FOR    EVERMORE  !  " 

After  a  faithful  and  thorough  examina- 
tion of  this  first  convert,  it  was  decided 
that  he  should  be  baptized  on  Lord's  day, 
June  27th,  1819.  All  the  preparatory  ex- 
ercises were  performed  in  the  zayat,  in- 
cluding the  baptismal  prayer.  They  then 
repaired  to  a  pond,  on  the  bank  of  which 
stood  an  enormous  image  of  Gaudama,  and 
there  Mr.  Judson  administered  baptism  to 
the  first  Burman  convert.  This  was  a  day 
of  unutterable  joy  to  the  Missionaries, — 
"  the  chain  of  caste  was  broken,  and  who 
should  be  able  to  mend  it?  "  A  pillar  is 
struck  down  in  the  dark  temple  of  idolatry, 
and  who  shall  be  able  to  set  it  up.  "  Ye 
gods  of  wood  and  stone,  did  ye  not  tremble 
when,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son.  and 
Holy  Ghost,  one  of  your  votaries  shook 
'  you  as  dust  from  his  feet  !  "  * 

*  An  exclamation  of  Mr.  Ward,  at  the  baptism  of 
Krishna  Pal  in  the  River  Gancres. 


44  THE   CHRISTIAN   HEKO 


And  though  no  wondering  crowd  crowned 
the  overshadowing  bank,  and  no  hymn  of 
praise  expressed  the  exultant  feelings  of 
joyous  hearts  ;  still,  no  doubt,  hovering  an- 
gels with  deep  interest  took  note  of  that 
event,  and  God  looked  smilingly  down,  as 
he  did  upon  a  baptism  eighteen  hundred 
years  ago,  and  said,  "  These  are  my  ser- 
vants with  whom  1  am  well  pleased !  " 


DR.   JUDSON'S    SUFFERINGS    AKD 
IMPRISONMENT. 

Five  years  had  nearly  rolled  away  since 
the  baptism  of  the  first  convert.  In  the  in- 
terval, many  events  of  interest  and  impor- 
tance had  transpired  in  connection  with  the 
Mission.  Clouds  and  sunshine,  and  sun- 
shine and  clouds,  had  followed  each  other 
in  quick  and  rapid  succession.  Other  la- 
borers had  arrived,  —  the  New  Testament 
had  been  translated  into  the  Burman  Ian- 


OF  THE  XIXETEEXTH  CEXTURY.    45 

guage  and  the  little  band  of  disciples  had 
increased  to  the  number  of  eighteen.  Mr. 
Judson  had  removed  from  Rangoon  to  Ava, 
the  capital  of  Burmah.  The  Mission  was 
now  in  a  prosperous  condition,  and  prom- 
ised increasing  success. 

But  all  at  once,  rumors  of  war  between 
Britain  and  Burmah  were  heard,  like  the 
hoarse  mutterings  of  approaching  thunder. 
These  rumors  were  immediately  succeeded 
by  the  arrival  of  6,000  British  troops  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river.  In  the  consternation 
which  this  intelligence  created,  the  govern- 
ment issued  an  order,  that  all  persons  in 
Rangoon  wearing  a  hat  should  immediate- 
ly be  arrested.  Among  other  European 
residents,  Messrs.  Hough  and  Wade  were 
seized,  hurried  away  to  prison,  loaded  with 
heavy  fetters,  and  placed  in  close  confine- 
ment, under  the  charge  of  armed  keepers. 
On  the  following  morning,  the  fleet  arrived 
just  below  Rangoon,  and  the  keepers  were 
ordered  to  put  all  these  prisoners  to  death 


4G  THE    CHIIISTIAN   HERO 

the  moment  the  first  gun  should  be  fired 
upon  the  town.  But  no  sooner  did  the 
firing  commence,  then  the  keepers  immedi- 
ately fled,  having  taken  the  precaution  to 
make  the  prison  doors  fast,  to  prevent  the 
escape  of  the  prisoners.  After  the  firing 
ceased,  the  prison  was  entered  by  fifty  Bur- 
mans,  who  stripped  the  wretched  captives 
of  most  of  their  clothing,  bound  them  with 
cords,  dragged  them  out  of  prison,  and 
hurried  them  away,  goading  them  on  with 
the  points  of  their  spears,  to  the  place  of 
execution.  Here  they  were  placed  in  a 
kneeling  posture,  with  their  faces  bent  to 
the  ground,  and  the  executioner,  who  stood 
with  his  knife  in  hand,  was  ordered  to  pro- 
ceed. It  was  a  critical  moment.  The  exe- 
cutioner lifted  his  huge  knife  to  strike 
off  the  head  of  the  prisoner  nearest  him. 
When  Mr.  Hough  begged  for  a  moment's 
delay  ;  and  proposed  that  the  execution 
should  be  stayed,  and  one  or  two  of  the 
prisoners  be  sent  on  board  the  frigate,  to 


OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTUKY.         47 

entreat  the  English  commander  to  cease 
firing  upon  the  town.  Just  at  this  mo- 
ment, an  awful  roar  of  cannon  was  heard, 
and  the  shots  fell  thick  where  they  were 
assembled.  This  so  frightened  the  whole 
company,  officers  and  all,  that  they  in- 
stantly dispersed,  and  took  refuge  under 
a  neighboring  tank,  leaving  the  Missiona- 
ries still  on  their  knees,  with  their  necks 
bared,  awaiting  the  fatal  stroke  of  the  ex- 
ecutioner's knife.  The  petition  of  Mr. 
Hough,  however,  was  renewed,  and  he  was 
commissioned  to  go  at  once  to  the  English 
general  to  negotiate,  while  Mr.  Wade  and 
the  other  prisoners  were  consigned  to  a 
miserable  dungeon,  with  strict  orders  to 
have  them  all  put  to  death  in  case  Mr. 
Hough  did  not  succeed  in  putting  an  end 
to  hostilities. 

On  the  morning  following,  a  party  of  Bur- 
mans  came  to  the  prison,  evidently  with 
the  design  of  putting  them  to  death  ;  but 
just  at  this  moment,  some  one  from  without 


48  TIIK    CHRISTIAN    IIEKO 


exclaimed,  "The  English  are  coming!" 
Instantly  the  whole  number  fled  in  the 
greatest  alarm,  and  soon  after,  the  priso- 
ners were  released  from  their  prison  and 
chains  by  British  soldiers. 

The  intelligence  of  the  fall  of  Rangoon 
reached  Ava  (the  place  of  Mr.  Judson's 
labors)  about  two  weeks  after  its  capture. 
All  was  confusion  and  excitement  at  the 
capital.  The  king  immediately  ordered 
the  foreign  teachers  to  be  arrested. 

While  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson  were  at 
dinner,  a  company  of  fierce-looking  Bur- 
mans,  attended  by  a  "  spotted-faced  son  of 
the  prison,"  *  rushed  into  the  house,  seized, 
and  violently  threw  the  unresisting  Mis- 
sionary upon  the  floor,  drew  forth  a  small 
cord  for  pinioning  prisoners,  and,  with 
hellish  cruelty,  proceeded  to  tighten  the 
torturing  cords  around  the  suffering  victim. 

*  The  executioners  in  Burmah  are  reprieved  felonf. 
bound  in  service  to  the  prisons.  Tliey  are  marked  by  a 
tattooed  circle  on  their  cheeks,  on  account  of  which  they 
are  termed  "  spotted- faced  son"?  of  the  prison." 


OF  THE  XINETEEXTH  CENTUKY.    49 

"Stay!"  exclaimed   the  agonized  and 
suffering-  wife,  "  O  have   pity,  and  loose 
that  torturing  cord,  and  I  will  give  you 
money!  "     But  the  spotted-face,  as  if  the  1 
infliction  of  pain  were  a  greater  pleasure  j 
than  the  acquisition  of  mone^v,  spurned  the  \ 
offer  of  silver,  and  dragged  the  suffering  j 
Missionary  some  distance  from  the  house,  j 
then    threw   his    helpless  victim    on    the 
ground,  and,  placing   his   knee   upon   his 
back  to  increase  the  purchase,  he  drew  the 
cords  with  the  utmost  of  his  strength,  so 
as  almost  tfo  deprive  him  of  the  power  to 
breathe. 

"  Now  give  us  silver,"  said  the  apotted- 
face,  "  and  the  cords  shall  be  loosed  !  " 

"  Is  there  no  one  who  knov/s  me,"  cried 
the  tortured  Missionary,  "  is  there  no  one 
who  pities  me,  and  who  will  become  se- 
curity for  the  m.oney  till  the  messengers 
return  ?  " 

There  was  none.  A  messenger,  how- 
ever, soon  arrived  with  silver,  upon  which 


i   50  THE    CHRISTIAN   HEKO 


the  arms  of  the  sufferer  were  somewhat  re- 
lieved, so  as  to  allow  him  to  breathe  more 
freely.  He  was  then  taken  a  distance  of 
nearly  two  miles,  three  pairs  of  fetters 
placed  upon  his  limbs,  then  fastened  to 
a  bamboo  pole,  and  thurst  into  the  death 
prison  ! 

The  horrible  sensations  and  sufferings  of 
this  man  of  God,  shackled  like  a  common 
felon,  and  under  the  guard  of  executioners 
during  the  long  hours  of  night  in  the  death 
prison,  I  will  not  undertake  to  describe. 

And  what  a  night,  also,  for  his  poor, 
agonizing  wife,  Who  was  left  behind,  igno- 
rant to  the  fate  of  her  husband  !  She,  also, 
was  a  prisoner,  being  guarded  by  the  offi- 
cers of  government,  and  not  permitted  to 
leave  her  house.  On  the  third  day,  how- 
ever, by  a  bribe  of  about  one  hundred  dol- 
lars, she  obtained  the  melancholy  privilege 
of  visiting  her  husband  at  the  door  of  the 
prison.  But  what  a  meeting  !  The  fet- 
tered sufferer  crawled  to  the  door  of  the 


OF    THE    XINI^^EXTII    CEXTURY.  51 


prison,  —  for  Mrs.  Judson  was  not  per- 
mitted to  enter,  —  and  a  few  words  of  sad 
endearment  passed  between  them  only, 
when  she  was  rudely  ordered  to  depart. 

By  the  exertions  of  this  Christian  he- 
roine, the  Missionaries  were  soon  after  re- 
moved from  the  death  prison  to  an  open 
shed  in  the  prison  inclosure,  and  here  she 
continued  to  visit  them,  daily  bringing- 
them  food,  for  seven  months.  Then,  in 
the  midst  of  these  labors  and  sufferings, 
and  while  the  agonized  father  was  chained 
in  his  prison,  she  gave  birth  to  a  little 
daughter.  But  in  a  few  days  she  was  en- 
abled by  the  good  hand  of  Providence  to 
resume  her  daily  visits  to  the  prison  again.  I 

About  two  months  after  the  birth  of  her  ' 
little  daughter,  a  message  was  brought  to  . 
Mrs.  Judson,  that  her  husband  and  the  other 
white  prisoners,  v;ere  again  thurst  into  the 
horrible  death  prison,  and  that  two  addi-  1 
tional  pairs  of  fetters,  making  five  in  all,  { 
had  been  put  upon  their  galled  and  wearied  | 


52  THE    CIIKISXIAN    IlKRO 


limbs.  Tlie  cause  of  this  additional  rigor 
was  the  defeat  of  the  Burman  general  and 
the  advance  of  the  British  troops  up  the 
river. 

It  was  now  the  commencement  of  the  hot 
season,  and   the   situation   of  the   fettered 
prisoners,  shut   up    in  a  close  and   filthy 
apartment,  was   dreadful   beyond  descrip- 
tion.    After  continuing  in  the  inner  prison 
about  a  month,  Mr.  Judson's  health  gave 
way  ;  he  was  seized  with  an  alarming  fever, 
and  probably  his  life  would  have  been  sac-  j 
rificed,  had  it  not  been  for  the  energy  and  ; 
assiduity  of  his  heroic  wife.     In  order  to  i 
be  near  him,  she  erected  a  bamboo  room  in  j 
the  governor's  inclosure  which  was  nearly 
opposite  the  prison  gate.     And  there  she 
continued  to  watch  over  her  suffering  hus- 
band and  to  besiege  the  governor  with  her 
incessant   entreaties,  till   at   length,   worn 
out  with  her  "  continual  coming,"  he  gave 
orders  that  Mr.  Judson  should  be  removed 
to  more  comfortable  apartments,  and  grant- 


OF    THE    XIXETEEXTII    CENTURY.  53 


I  ed  her  permission  to  go  in  and  out  at  all 
'  times  a  day,  to  administer  the  necessary 

medicine  and  nourishment. 
j       But  this  state  of  comparative  happiness 
!  lasted  but  two  or  three  days  ;  Mr.  Judson, 
j  together  with  the  other  prisoners,  was  or- 
j  dered  to  be  removed  to  the  prison  of  Oung- 
I  penla,  a  distance  of  eight  or  nine  miles. 
I  The  sufferings  of  the  prisoners  attendant 
i  upon  this  journey  are  most  heart-rending. 
i  They  were  obliged  to  travel  with  naked 
I  feet  upon  the  scorching   sand   and   sharp 
!  gravel,    their    limbs   were    stiffened    and 
j  bruised  with  the  fetters  they  had  worn  so 
I  long,  their  bodies  were  emaciated  wijh  the 
j  privations  and  sickness  of  their  protracted 
j  and    painful    imprisonment,    and   then,    in 
addition,  they  were  compelled  to  make  the 
journey   under  a  burning   sun   in   one  of 
the  hottest  days  in  the  year.     They  had 
proceeded   only  about   half  a  mile,    when 
Mr.  Judson's  feet  became  dreadfully  blis- 
tered.  They  had  then  eight  miles  to  walk ; 


5-4  THE    CHRISTIAN   HERO 

the  sand  and  gravel  were  like  burning  coals 
to  the  feet  of  the  prisoners,  which  soon  be- 
came perfectly  destitute  of  skin  ;  and  in 
this  condition  they  were  goaded  on  by 
their  unfeeling  drivers,  leaving  at  every 
step  the  bloody  tracks  of  their  raw  and 
lacerated  feet. 

The  debilitated  state  of  Mr.  Judson  ren- 
dered him  less  capable  of  bearing  such 
hardships  than  the  other  prisoners.  When 
about  half  way,  Mr.  Judson  requested  the 
officer  to  allow  him  to  ride  on  his  horse  a 
mile  or  two,  as  he  could  proceed  no  farther 
in  that  dreadful  state.  But  a  malignant 
look  was  all  the  reply  he  received.  He 
then  requested  Captain  Laird,  who  was 
tied  with  him,  to  allow  him  to  take  hold 
of  his  shoulder,  as  he  was  fast  sinking. 
This  Mr.  Laird  kindly  granted  for  a  mile 
or  two,  but  found  the  additional  burden  in- 
supportable. Just  then,  a  Bengalee  servant 
coming  up  and  seeing  the  distress,  took  off 
his  headdress,   which  was  made  of  cloth, 


OF    THE    NIXETKENTII    CEXTUrvY.  55 

tore  it  in  two,  gave  a  part  to  Mr.  Juclson, 
which  he  wrapped  round  his  wounded  feet ; 
and  tlie  servant  offering-  his  shouklcr,  Mr. 
Judson  was  almost  carried  by  him  the  re- 
mainder of  the  way. 

About  two  hours  after  the  arrival  of  the 
prisoners,  who  should  Mr.  Judson  see  but 
his  noble  and  heroic  wife,  coming  with  her 
babe  three  months'  old  in  her  arms.  She 
had  found  out  the  destination  to  which  her 
husband  had  been  driven  by  cruel  and 
bloody  men,  and  love  had  lent  her  wings 
to  traverse  the  burning  sands  of  the  desert, 
and  she  had  flowm  on  those  wings,  with 
her  sad-hearted  babe  at  her  breast,  to  the 
side  of  her  beloved  companion. 

At  this  place  they  were  destined  to  re- 
main six  long  months  in  sufferings,  quite 
as  memorable  as  the  fiery  furnace  of  Baby- 
lon to  the  Jewish  worthies,  as  the  den 
of  lions  to  Daniel,  or  as  the  prison  at 
Philippi  to  Paul  and  Silas,  with  their 
feet  made  fast  in  the  stocks.      Certain  it 


56  THE    CIIPvISTIAX   HERO 

is,  that  the  sufferings  of  this  six  months 
endured  by  this  devoted  Missionary  and 
his  wife  are  beyond  either  enunaeration  or 
description. 

Here  Mr.  Judson's  fever  continued,  and 
his  feet  were  so  dreadfully  mangled  by  the 
horrible  march  from  Ava,  that  for  several 
days  he  was  utterly  unable  to  move.  While 
his  heroic  wife  was  making  preparations  to 
attend  upon  her  husband,  the  next  morning 
after  her  arrival,  her  eldest  daughter  was 
taken  down  with  the  smallpox !  Now  her 
condition  was  most  trying,  —  her  husband 
in  prison,  with  a  fever  upon  him,  and  in  a 
mangled  condition,  her  little  daughter  with 
the  small  pox  in  a  shed  outside  the  prison, 
which  she  had  been  permitted  to  occupy, 
and  her  famishing  babe  at  the  breast  seeking 
almost  in  vain  for  that  nourishment,  which 
excess  of  sorrow,  weariness,  and  suffering 
had  nearly  dried  up. 

But  her  cup  of  suffering  is  not  even  yet 
full.     No  sooner  is   her   child  recovered, 


OV    THE  NiyETEKXTII  CKXTURY.    57 


than  she  herself  is  seized  with  a  distressing 
and  dangerous  sickness  ;  and  thus  she  is 
deprived  of  the  power  of  ministering  unto 
others,  and  with  none  to  minister  unto  her. 
In  this  debilitated  and  distressing  condition, 
she  set  oiF  in  a  cart  to  Ava  for  medicine 
and  suitable  food  ;  while  absent  she  became 
so  much  worse,  that  she  had  no  hope  of 
recovery  left,  and  desired  only  to  be  able 
to  return  to  die  near  the  prison.  She  did 
return,  and  was  confined  to  her  shed  more 
than  two  months  before  she  was  able  to 
resume  her  accustomed  duties  again. 

The  prisoners,  it  afterwards  appeared, 
had  been  removed  to  this  prison,  by  the 
orders  of  the  Burmese  geneial,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  being  offered  there  as  a  sacrifice  to 
the  gods.  They  were  destined  by  him  to 
the  horrible  death  of  burning  alive!  But  as 
he  was  about  to  consummiate  this  diabolical 
purpose,  he  suddenly  fell  into  disgrace,  was 
charged  with  treason,  and  executed  at  an 
hour's  notice.     Thus  God  sent  his  angel 


58  THE    CIIKISTIAN    HERO 

from  heaven  to  shut  the  lion's  mouth,  and 
save  his  servant  from  the  fate  which  hung  i 
over  him.     Hence  he,  together  with  the  | 
other  prisoners,  was  left  at  the  prison  of  ; 
Oung-penla  uncared  for,  till  the  near  ap-  ' 
proach  of  the  English  to  the   capital    in- 
duced the  king  to  send  for  Mr.  Judson  to 
accompany   the    embassy   to   the   English 
camp,  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  peace. 

Thus  ends  a  single  scene  of  suffering  in 
the  tragical  life  of  this  remarkable  man. 
How  peculiarly  appropriate  is  the  language 
of  the  text  to  this  portion  of  his  life  :  "  In 
labors  more  abundant,  in  stripes  above 
measure,  in  prisons  more  frequent,  in  deaths 
oft."  He  had  been  in  most  imminent  dan- 
gers in  repeated  instances  from  the  hand 
of  the  executioner,  from  alarming  sickness, 
and  from  sufferings  in  prison  one  year  and 
seven  months,  nine  months  in  three  pairs 
of  fetters,  two  months  in  five,  six  months 
in  one,  and  two  months  a  prisoner  at  large. 
And  yet  God  had  delivered  him  out  of  them 


OF    THE    XIXETEEXTII    CENTURY.  59 

all,  for  his  work  was  not  done  ;  —  and  God's 
people  are  immortal  till  their  work  is 


DEATH  OF  DR.  JUDSON'S  FIRST 
WIFE  AND   CHILD. 

On  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  peace 
between  Burmah  and  England,  Mr.  Judson 
established  a  Mission  at  Amherst ;  and, 
having  got  matters  fairly  settled,  he  was 
solicited  to  accompany,  as  translator,  an 
embassy  to  the  court  of  Ava,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  negotiating  a  commercial  treaty 
with  the  government.  This  he  at  first  de- 
clined, but  having  the  assurance  that  an 
effort  should  be  made  to  have  a  clause  in- 
serted securing  religious  toleration  ;  he 
finally  consented  to  accept  the  office  and 
join  the  embassy. 

Soon  after  he  left,  a  remittent  fever 
seized  upon  the  constitution  of  Mrs.  Jud- 
son, welinigh  broken  down  by  suffering  and 


60  THE    CHRISTIAN    IIEKO 

disease.  Now  she,  who  had  so  assiduously 
and  tenderly  watched  over  and  ministered 
unto  others,  by  the  providence  of  God,  is 
to  sicken  and  die  alone.  There  are  none 
to  cool  the  burning  brow  and  soothe  the 
anguish  of  that  heroic  sufferer,  and  in  her 
native  tongue  to  whisper  words  of  tender- 
ness and  love  ;  yet  pitying  hearts  were  there, 
annong  those  dark-browed  daughters  of  Bur- 
mah,  and  eyes  that  wept  at  the  anguish  of 
the  dying  Missionary,  and  voice«s  that  whis- 
pered accents  of  love,  though  in  a  foreign 
tongue.  From  day  to  day  the  malady 
makes  slow,  but  constant  progress.  At 
length  delirium  ensues ;  and  she  gives  ut- 
terance to  her  broken  thoughts.  "  0  the 
teacher  is  long  coming  !  The  new  Mis- 
sionaries are  long  coming !  I  must  die 
alone  and  leave  my  little  one  !  Tell  the 
teacher  the  disease  was  violent !  Tell  him 
I  could  not  write !  Tell  him  how  I  suf- 
fered and  died!  Tell  him  all  you  see  !  " 
And  then  she  sinks  into  the  lethargy  of 
approaching  death. 


OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.     61  ' 

All  is  still,  and  no  sound  is  heard  except  [ 
the  quick  and  shortened  breathing  of  the  j 
sufferer.  An  infant  cry  breaks  the  still-  ] 
ness  of  the  apartment.  That  sound  vibrates  j 
upon  that  maternal  heart  whose  throbbing-s  j 
had  wellnigh  ceased.  The  eyes  of  the  dy-  j 
ing  mother  once  more  open  ;  she  speaks,  ' 
it  is  a  gentle  whisper  from  the  bed  of  death  :  ; 
"  Nurse  be  kind  to  my  darling  child,  in-  i 
dulge  it  in  every  thing  till  its  father  comes 
home,  precious,  precious  baby  !  " 

"  She  made  a  sign 
To  bring  her  babe,  —  't  was  brought  and  by  her  placed, 

Slie  looked  upon  its  face and  laid 

Her  hand  upon  its  little  breast,  and  sought 
From  heaven  unutterable  blessings,  —  such 
As  God  to  dying  parents  only  granted 
For  infants  left  behind  them  in  the  world. 
'  God  keep  my  child,'  we  heard  her  say, 
And  heard  no  more." 

She  died  October  24th,  at  eight  o'clock 
in  the  evening.  Her  "  record  is  on 
HIGH  !  " 

While   Mr.  Judson   was   pursuing   the 


62  THE    CHllISTIAN   HERO 


object  of  his  visit  at  the  capital,  a  letter 
was  one  day  handed  him  sealed  with  a 
black  seal.  He  tore  it  open  and  read  with 
feelings  of  anguish  and  desolation,  which 
it  would  be  presumption  to  attempt  to  de- 
scribe, the  following  words :  "  Dear  Sir,  to 
one  who  has  suffered  so  much,  and  with 
such  exemplary  fortitude,  there  needs  but 
little  preface  to  tell  a  tale  of  distress.  To 
sum  up  all  the  unhappy  tidings  in  a  few 
words,  —  Mrs.  Judson  is  no  more. ^^ 

But  his  cup  of  sorrow  was  not  full.  He 
was  widowed  but  not  childless.  He  had 
still  left  his  little  daughter,  who  had  been 
ushered  into  the  world  while  her  father 
was  in  fetters  in  the  death  prison.  That 
little  one  the  stricken  mourner  had  already 
begun  to  hope  might  yet  supply,  in  some 
degree,  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  loss 
of  the  tenderest  of  mothers  and  the  best 
of  wives.  But  just  six  months  after  the 
death  of  its  mother,  angels  bore  that  little 
spirit  to  be  reunited  with  hers  in  heaven. 


OF  THE  NIXKTEKXTH  CEXTUKT.    63 

"  Thus  I  am  left  alone  in  the  wide  world," 
writes  Mr.  Judson,  "  my  father's  family 
and  all  my  relatives  are  separated  from  me 
by  seas  which  I  shall  never  repass.  They 
are  the  same  to  me  as  if  buried.  My  own 
dear  family  I  have  actually  buried.  What 
remains  for  me  but  to  hold  myself  in 
readiness  to  follow  the  departed  to  tliat 
blessed   world, 

'  Where  my  best  friends,  my  kindred  dwell, 
Where  God  my  Saviour  reigns  ! '  " 


TRANSLATION    OF    THE    BIBLE 
INTO   BURMx\N. 

Immediately  after  the  grave  had  closed 
over  the  last  of  all  his  family,  he  betook 
himself  to  the  great  work  of  giving  the 
Bible  to  the  millions  of  Burmah.  A  work 
in  which  the  bereaved  Missionary  toiled 
solitary  and  alone  for  nearly  seven  long 
years.     He  first  was  employed  for  a  time 


64  THE   CHRISTIAN    HERO 


in  revising  the  New  Testament,  He  then 
began  his  labors  in  the  Old  Testament,  by- 
translating  the  Psalms.  Just  as  he  com- 
menced this  work,  he  received  a  pressing 
invitation  from  the  Board  to  visit  his  native 
land ;  but  this  invitation  he  resolutely  de- 
clined, for  he  felt  that  his  duty  to  God  and 
the  perishing  heathen  forbade  it.  The 
WHOLE  Bible  was  not  yet  given  to  Bur- 
mah.  Here  we  see  manifested  a  most  no- 
ble and  heroic  spirit  of  self-denial,  delib- 
erately preferring  continued  labors  to  a 
season  of  relaxation,  and  the  good  of  the 
heathen  above  any  gratification  of  meeting 
friends  and  kindred. 

From  this  time  onward,  he  devoted  near- 
ly all  his  time  and  energies  to  the  great 
work  of  giving  the  Bible  to  Burmah.  In 
June,  1831,  he  speaks  of  Genesis,  Psahiis, 
Solomon's  Song,  Isaiah,  and  Daniel  as  ' 
completed.  Two  years  and  a  half  longer  • 
of  hard  study  and  patient  toil,  the  laborious, 
but  welcome  task  drew  near  its  completion. 


OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.    65 

Under  date  of  December  31st,  1833,  he 
says  :  "I  did  hope,  at  this  time,  to  have 
been  able  to  insert  a  notice  of  the  comple- 
tion of  the  translation  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, but  though  I  have  long  devoted  near- 
ly all  my  time  to  that  viork,  I  have  found 
it  so  heavy,  and  my  health  so  poor,  that 
though  near  the  goal,  I  cannot  yet  say  I 
have  attained." 

A  single  month  longer,  and  the  noble 
work  was  done  !  On  the  31st  of  January, 
1834,  Mr.  Judson  wrote  the  last  page  of 
his  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Bur- 
man  tongue.  It  was  a  work  which  he  had 
prosecuted  amid  the  changes  of  many  j^ears, 
often  in  solitude,  in  sickness,  and  in  sorrow. 
Poets,  historians,  and  moralists  have  all 
recorded  the  feelings  of  exultation,  with 
which  they  have  completed  some  great 
work  which  they  imagined  the  world 
would  not  willingly  let  die.  But  here  is 
a  sight  which  angels  might  have  stooped 
down  from  heaven  to  gaze  upon  with  the 


66  THE    CHRISTIAN   HERO 


deepest  interest,  to  see  that  devoted  man 
of  God,  after  his  long^  years  of  toil,  on 
his  knees  in  that  room,  where  he  had  so 
long  studied,  and  wept,  and  prayed  over 
this  work,  with  the  last  leaf  of  Burmah's 
Bible  in  his  hand,  and  to  witness  the  thrill 
of  holy  rapture  which  glowed  in  every  fea- 
ture, as,  rising  from  his  knees,  he  seized 
his  pen  and  wrote  the  following  memora- 
ble record  in  the  history  of  Burmah  :  — 
"Thanks  be  to  God,  I  can  now  say  I 
HAVE  ATTAINED  !  I  havo  knelt  down  be- 
fore him  with  the  last  leaf  in  my  hand, 
and  imploring  his  forgiveness  for  all  sins 
which  have  polluted  my  labors  in  this  de- 
partment, and  his  aid  in  future  efforts  to 
remove  the  errors  and  imperfections  which 
necessarily  cleave  to  the  work,  I  have 
commended  it  to  his  mercy  and  grace  ; 
I  have  dedicated  it  to  his  glory.      May 

HE  MAKE  HIS  OWN  INSPIRED  WoRD,  NOW 
COMPLETE  IN  THE  BuRMAN  TONGUE,  THE 
GRAND    INSTRUMENT    OF    FILLING    ALL    BuR- 


or    THE    XIXETEENTH    CENTUKY.  67 


MAH    WITH    SONGS    AND      PRAISES,    TO     OUR 

GREAT  God  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ  ! 
Amen." 

Let  the  despisers  of  the  Bible  and  of  the 
Cross  look  here  ;  contemplate  the  spectacle 
here  presented.  Here  is  a  man  upon  whom 
the  heathen  have  inflicted  tortures,  and 
fetters,  and  bonds,  and  imprisonment,  and 
he  has  given  them  in  return  the  Bible, — 
the  richest  boon  of  Heaven  to  man,  the 
leaves  of  which  are  for  the  healing  of  the 
nations!  Such  an  act,  indeed,  reflects 
great  honor  on  the  man,  but  it  reflects  a 
greater  glory  on  his  religion  which  prompt- 
ed him  to  undertake,  and  enabled  him  to 
complete,  so  noble  and  God-like  a  work ! 


DR.  JUDSON'S   RETURN   TO 

AMERICA. 

From  the  date  of  the  completion  of  the 

Burman  Bible  in  January,  1834,  till  the 

embarkation  of  Dr.  Judson  for  the  United 


68  THE    CIIKISTIAN^    HERO 

States,  his  history  is  not  fraught  with  any 
such  startling  and  extraordinary  incidents 
as  is  found  in  other  portions  of  his  life. 
He  was  married  on  the  10th  of  April,  1834, 
to  Mrs.  Sarah  B.  Boardman,  with  whom, 
for  eleven  years,  he  lived  with  an  interest- 
ing family  of  children  growing  up  around 
him,  in  the  enjoyment  of  as  large  a  share 
of  domestic  happiness  as  often  falls  to  the 
lot  of  any  Missionary  of  Christ. 

After  printing  the  first  edition  of  the 
Bible  in  Burmah,  Dr.  Judson  soon  discov- 
ered the  necessity  of  a  thorough  revision 
of  the  whole  work,  and  five  years  more  of 
his  life  were  chiefly  devoted  to  this  im- 
portant, but  laborious  task.  This  revision 
of  the  work,  he  says,  cost  him  "  more 
labor  and  time  even  than  the  first  trans- 
lation." 

About  one  year  and  a  half  after  the  pub- 
lication of  the  revised  edition  of  the  Bible, 
at  the  earnest  and  repeated  solicitation  of 
the  Board,  Dr.  Judson  commenced  the  la- 


OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.      69 

borious  task  of  writing  a  complete  Dic- 
tionary of  the  Burman  language.  This 
work  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  put  to  press 
as  soon  as  the  end  of  the  year  1845.  But 
this  hope  was  frustrated  by  the  dangerous 
sickness  of  Mrs.  Judson,  which  rendered 
a  long  voyage  and  an  entire  change  of  cli- 
j  mate  necessary,  as  the  only  hope  of  pre- 
serving her  valuable  life. 

A  voyage  to  the  United  States  was  de- 
cided upon  as  the  only  thing  that  would 
insure  the  life  of  Mrs.  Judson ;  and  as  it 
would  be  cruel  to  send  her  alone  in  her 
enfeebled  state  of  health,  he  determined  to 
accompany  her.  They  embarked  in  April, 
1845,  taking  with  them  their  three  eldest 
children  to  remain  in  this  country,  and 
leaving  their  three  youngest  behind  ;  the 
youngest  but  three  and  a  half  months  old. 

To  prevent  an  interruption  in  the  work 
of  the  Burman  Dictionary,  he  engaged 
two  assistants  to  accompany  him,  with  the 
design  of  prosecuting   the  work  while  in 


70  TIIE    CHRISTIAN    IlEKO 

this  country.  But  the  heahh  of  Mrs.  Jud- 
son  had  so  much  improved  during  the 
former  part  of  the  voyage,  that  her  hus- 
band resolved  to  return  to  Burmah,  and 
allovv'^  her  to  pursue  her  voyage  to  the 
United  States  with  the  children.  And  on 
their  arrival  at  the  Isle  of  France,  the 
prospect  of  Mrs.  Judson's  recovery  con- 
tinued so  favorable,  that  the  native  assist- 
ants were  sent  back,  and  Dr.  Judson  in- 
tended soon  to  follow  them.  It  was  here 
that  those  most  beautiful  and  affecting  lines 
were  written  by  Mrs.  Judson  to  her  hus- 
band, commencing  thus  : 

"  We  part  on  this  gresn  islet,  love, 
Thou  for  the  Easlcni  main, 
I  for  the  setting  sun,  love, 
O  when  to  meet  again  !  "  * 

But  before  the  vessel  proceeded  on  her 
voyage,  and  after  the  return  of  the  native 
assistants,  Mrs.  Judson  was  seized  with  a 
relapse,  and  her  husband  resolved  not  to 

*  Judson  Offering,  p.  227. 


OF  THE  yiXETEEXTII  CENTURY.    71 

leave  her.  The  following  account  of  her 
last  sickness  is  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Judson  : 
"  On  our  passage  homeward,  the  strength 
of  Mrs.  Judson  gradually  declined,  and  I 
expected  to  be  under  the  painful  necessity 
of  burying  her  in  the  sea.  But  it  was  so 
ordered  in  Divine  Providence,  that  when 
the  indications  of  approaching  death  had 
become  strongly  marked,  the  ship  came  to 
anchor  in  the  port  of  St.  Helena.  For 
three  days  she  continued  to  sink  rapidly. 
Her  mind  became  liable  to  wander  ;  but  a 
single  word  v/as  sufficient  to  recall  and 
steady  her  recollections.  On  the  evening 
of  the  31st  of  August  she  appeared  to  be 
drawing  near  to  the  end  of  her  pilgrimage. 
The  children  took  leave  of  her  and  retired 
to  rest.  I  sat  alone  by  the  side  of  her  bed 
during  the  hours  of  the  night,  endeavor- 
ing to  administer  relief  to  the  distressed 
body  and  consolation  to  the  departing  soul. 
At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  wishing 
to  obtain  onq  more  token  of  recognition,  I 


72  THE    CHRISTIAN   IIEllO 


roused  her  attention,  and  said,  '  Do  you 
still  love  the  Saviour  1  '  '  O  yes,'  she  re- 
plied, '  I  ever  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ !  ' 
Another  hour  passed,  life  continued  to  re- 
cede, and  she  ceased  to  breathe.  For  a 
moment  I  traced  her  upward  flight  and 
thought  of  the  v^'onders  which  were  open- 
ing to  her  view.  I  then  closed  her  sight- 
less eyes,  dressed  her  hair  for  the  last 
time  in  the  drapery  of  death,  and,  being 
exhausted  with  many  sleepless  nights, 
threw  myself  down  and  slept. 

*'  On  awaking  in  the  morning,  I  saw  the 
children  standing  and  weeping  around  the 
body  of  their  mother,  then,  for  the  first 
time,  inattentive  to  their  cries.  In  the 
course  of  the  day,  a  coffin  was  procured 
from  the  shore,  in  which  I  placed  all  that 
remained  of  her  whom  I  had  so  much 
loved.  After  prayer  had  been  offered,  by 
a  dear  brother  minister  from  the  town, 
Rev.  Mr.  Bertram,  we  proceeded  in  boats 
to  the  shore.     A  grave  had  been  prepared 


! 

OF    TJIE    XIXETEEXTII    CEXTURY.  73 


ia  a  beautiful,  shady  spot,  contiguous  to  the 
f^rave  of  Mrs.  Chater,  a  Missionary  from 
Ceylon,  who  had  died  in  similar  circum- 
stances on  her  passage  home.  There  I  saw 
lier  safely  deposited  ;  her  body  had  attained 
I  the  repose  of  the  grave,  and  her  spirit  the 
'  repose  of  paradise." 

I  Dr.  Judson  was  obliged  to  hasten  on 
j  board  the  ship,  which  immediately  went  to 
j  sea.  And  who  does  not  sympathize  with 
I  the  feelings  which  prompted  the  following 
;  record:  ''On, the  following  morning,  no 
j  vestige  of  the  island  was  discernible  in  the 
j  distant  horizon.  (How  would  he  strain  his 
I  sight  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  last  resting- 
I  place  of  his  beloved  companion !)  For  a 
j  few  days,  in  the  solitude  of  my  cabin,  with 
I  my  poor  children  crying  around  me,  I 
I  could  not  help  abandoning  myself  to  heart- 
I  breaking  sorrow.  But  the  promises  of  the 
I  Gospel  came  to  my  aid,  and  faith  stretched 
I  her  view  to  the  bright  world  of  eternal 
j  life,  and  anticipated  a  happy  meeting  with 


74  THE   CHRISTIAN    HERO 

beloved  beings,  whose  bodies  are  moulder- 
ing at  Amherst  and  at  St.  Helena." 

Thus  a  second  time  is  this  stricken 
mourner  bereaved  of  a  companion,  and 
left  alone.     Yes  : 

"  Precious  dust,"  he  has  "  laid, 
By  the  Hopia  tree  ; 
And  treasure  as  precious 
In  the  rock  of  the  sea."  ♦ 

Six  vs^eeks  from  the  grave  of  his  wife  at 

St.  Helena,  Dr.  Judson  arrived  in  Boston 

on  the  15th  of  October,  1845.     The  arrival 

of  this  devoted  and  suffering  Missionary  in 

j  his  native  land  produced  a  thrill  of  emotion 

I  in  the  hearts  of  thousands,  which  may  be 

I  imagined,  but  never  described.    Word  was 

j  circulated   verbally,    in    order   to    prevent 

I  publicity,  that  the  friends  of  Missions  would 

meet  him  in  the  evening  at  the  church  in 

Bowdoin  Square,  to  welcome  his  return. 

The  house  was  densely  filled,  all  eager  to 

see  and  grasp  the  hand  of  the  long-loved 

*  H.  S.  Washburn. 


or    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTUKY. 


and  toil-worn  man  of  God,  the  oldest  sur- 
viving American  Missionary  to  the  East, 
and  the  first  who  gave  himself  personally 
to  that  work,  —  the  man  who  had  been 
brought  before  kings  and  councils  for  the 
testimony  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  —  who  had 
been  in  bonds,  in  dangers,  and  in  chains; 
who  had  been  led  away  to  be  sacrificed  to 
heathen  gods,  but  delivered  out  of  their 
hands  by  the  God  of  heaven  ;  and  whose 
fortitude  no  terrors  of  martyrdom  could 
shake  ;  whose  love  for  the  heathen  no  in- 
gratitude, nor  cruelty,  nor  fear  could  quench. 
This  was  the  man  whom  God  had  delighted 
to  honor  as  "Jesus  Christ's  Man,"* 
and  around  w-hom  thousands  rushed  to 
greet  and  welcome  to  the  land  of  his  youth. 
During  the  services  of  the  evening,  a 
man  was  suddenly  seen  to  pass  rapidly  up 

*  This  phrase  is  one  made  use  of  many  years  ago  by 
a  poor  heathen,  who  had  travelled  far  to  find  a  IMission- 
ary,  and  meeting  Mr.  Judson,  eagerly  inquired,  ''Are 
you  Jesus  Christ's  man  ?  " 


76  THE    CHRISTIAK   HERO 

the  aisle  into  the  pulpit,  and  to  embrace 
Dr.  Judson  with  uncommon  ardor,  and 
which  was  as  ardently  reciprocated.  As 
this  gentleman  was  a  stranger  to  the  audi- 
ence, every  one  was  extremely  anxious  to 
know  who  he  was.  He  was  soon  intro- 
duced to  the  audience,  as  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Nott,  Jr.,  the  only  surviving  member,  ex- 
cept Mr.  Judson,  of  that  first  company  of 
Missionaries  sent  out  from  this  country  by 
the  American  Board.  He  was  compelled, 
after  a  few  years  labor,  to  return  to  this 
country,  and  is  now  pastor  of  a  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  Wareham  in  this  State. 
As  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  arrival  of  Dr. 
Judson,  he  set  out  with  all  speed  for  Bos- 
ton to  greet  him  ;  and,  learning  that  he 
was  at  Bovvdoin  Square  Church,  he  has- 
tened there  to  take  him  by  the  hand.  Here, 
after  thirty-three  years  of  separation,  these 
two  pioneer  Missionaries  unexpectedly  meet 
in  their  native  land,  and  with  what  emotion 
you  can  better  imagine  than  I  describe. 


OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.    77 

Similar  greetings  were  also  offered  Dr. 
Judson  in  other  cities  which  he  visited,  and 
in  every  part  of  the  country  he  was  re- 
ceived with  great  interest  and  respect,  such 
as  are  seldom  recorded  to  any  person  of  a 
mere  private  station.  These  manifestations 
of  regard  were  not  confined  merely  to  the 
denomination  to  which  he  belongs.  Chris- 
tians of  every  communion,  and  citizens  of 
every  rank,  were  eager  to  honor  the  man 
who  possessed  so  many  claims  to  public 
veneration  and  gratitude,  who  had  toiled 
and  suffered  as  none  of  the  present  genera- 
tion have  for  the  benefit  of  his  race  and 
the  diffusion  of  the  Gospel  among  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth. 

Dr.  Judson  remained  in  the  United  States 
till  the  following  July.  In  June,  1846,  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Emily  Chubbuck  of 
Hamilton,  New  York;  and,  on  the  11th 
of  July,  he  set  sail  from  Boston  on  his 
return  again  to  his  field  of  Missionary  labor 
in  Burmah,  where  he  arrived  on  the  5th  of 
December  following. 


70  THE    CPIRISTIAN    IIEllO 

He  again  addressed  himself  with  his  ac- 
customed devotion  to  his  Missionary  labors  ; 
but  his  work  was  nearly  finished.  His 
health  began  to  fail  in  November,  1849, 
But  the  decline  was  so  gradual,  that  no 
danger  was  apprehended  till  January,  when 
he  went  down  to  Mergui  for  the  benefit  of 
his  health,  and  returned,  as  was  supposed, 
with  his  health  improved.  But  he  soon 
again  began  to  fail.  He  next  spent  a 
month  at  Amherst,  but  without  benefit. 
His  decline  now  became  so  apparent,  that 
his  friends  became  alarmed,  and  a  voyage 
to  sea  was  proposed  as  the  only  possible 
means  of  saving  his  life.  A  passage  was 
immediately  procured  in  a  vessel  bound 
for  the  Isle  of  Bourbon.  He  became  so 
weak  before  he  left,  that  he  was  obliged  to 
be  carried  on  board  in  a  litter.  The  vessel 
was  most  unfortunately  delayed  six  days  in 
the  river  before  she  went  to  sea ;  during 
which  time  Dr.  Judson  was  constantly 
sinking.     He  became   so   low  before  the 


or    THE    XIXKTEENTII    CENTURY.  79 


assistants  who  accompanied  him  down  the 
river  left  him,  that  they  entreated  that  he 
might  be  taken  back  to  Mauhnain.  For 
they  were  confident  that  he  was  near  his 
end,  and  they  could  not  bear  the  thought  of 
his  being  buried  in  the  sea.  "  We  want 
his  grave,"  said  they  "  where  we  can  look 
upon  it."  When  the  pilot  left  the  vessel, 
Mr.  Ranney,  who  accompanied  Dr.  Judson 
on  his  voyage,  wrote  Mrs.  Judson  that  her 
husband  requested  him  to  say,  that  "  Ae 
went  out  to  sea  with  a  strong  feeling  that 
he  should  recover.''''  But  notwithstanding, 
he  continued  to  fail,  suffering  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  time  exceedingly,  till 
four  o'clock  on  Friday  afternoon,  when  he 
breathed  his  last.  "  His  death,"  says  Mr. 
Ranney,  "was  like  falling  to  sleep.  Not 
the  movement  of  a  muscle  was  percepti- 
ble, and  the  moment  of  the  going  out  of 
life  was  indicated  only  by  his  ceasing  to 
breathe." 

They  were  admonished  of  the  necessity 


80  THE    CHRISTIAN   HERO 

of  making-  immediate  preparations  for  the 
burial  of  the  body.  A  strong  plank  coffin 
was  constructed  to  receive  the  remains,  and 
into  which  were  poured  several  buckets  of 
sand  to  make  it  sink.  At  eight  o'clock 
the  crew  assembled,  the  larboard  port  was 
opened,  and,  in  perfect  silence,  broke  only 
by  the  voice  of  the  captain,  the  remains 
were  committed  to  the  deep  ;  nine  days 
after  their  embarkation  at  Maulmain,  and 
scarcely  three  days  out  of  sight  of  the 
mountains  of  Burmah. 

Thus  Adoniram  Judson,  D.  D.,  the 
Senior  Missionary  of  the  American  Baptist 
Union,  departed  this  life  at  sea,  in  the 
sixty-second  year  of  his  age,  and  of  his 
Missionary  labor  the  thirty-eighth.  And 
though  his  silent  funeral,  and  his  nameless 
tomb  are  not  such  as  we  would  have  chosen, 
yet  that  God,  who  hid  the  body  of  Moses 
from  the  eyes  of  Israel,  and  by  his  provi- 
dence concealed  the  burial  place  of  Peter, 
lest  their  graves  should  become  the  occa- 


OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.          81 


sion  of  idolatrous  reverence,  has  now  bid- 
den the  sea  unveil  its  bosom  and  take  this 
new  treasure  to  its  trust.  And  though  man 
can  build  for  him  no  garnished  sepulchre, 
and  bid  no  storied  marble  rise,  yet 

The  waves  shall  roll  for  him 

A  ceaseless,  solemn  dirge, 
The  low  winds  chant  his  requiem 

And  rock  him  with  the  surge. 

And,  indeed,  Adoniram  Judson  needs  no 
costly  mausoleum  at  our  hands.  He  has, 
by  his  sacrifice  and  labor  for  the  salvation 
of  the  heathen,  embalmed  his  memory  in 
the  affections  of  his  race,  —  he  has  erected 
for  himself  a  noble  monument,  not  of 
crumbling  marble  or  corroding  brass,  but 
of  immortal  spirits,  on  which,  as  on  im- 
perishable tablets,  he  has  inscribed  his  own 
epitaph,  which  shall  be  read  on  earth  and 
acknowledged  in  heaven. 

When  we  place  all  the  noble  acts  and 
great  events  of  his  life  in  juxtaposition  and 
trace  out  his  remarkable  history,  commenc- 


82  THE    CHRISTIAN   HERO 

ing  with  the  infidel  young  man  at  Brown, 
then  becoming  a  Christian  and  consecrating 
himself  to  the  work  of  Missions  at  Ando- 
ver,  there  writing,  and  as  one  of  signers 
presenting  the  first  appeal  to  the  Churches 
in  behalf  of  this  work  ;  in  the  solitude  of 
his  closet  maturing  plans  when  he  could 
derive  no  aid  from  the  counsels  of  age  and 
experience,  with  no  sympathy  of  public 
sentiment  to  quicken  the  pulsations  of  his 
heart,  —  but,  like  another  Columbus,  going 
forth  in  the  night  of  adversity,  guided  only 
by  the  "lights  oP  heaven,"  and  shaping 
his  course  by  the  stars  of  the  moral  firma- 
ment that  threw  their  gleams  along  a  path- 
less waste  ;  forsaking  home,  kindred,  and 
friends  for  the  love  he  bore  to  souls  ;  chang- 
ing his  sentiments  in  obedience  to  the  power 
of  truth  and  the  command  of  God ;  thus 
separating  himself  from  the  sympathies  of 
friends,  and  dissolving  his  connection  with 
the  Board  upon  which  he  was  dependent 
for    support ;    stirring   up    the    American 


OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.  83 

Baptist  to  the  great  work  of  preaching  the 
Gospel  to  the  heathen,  which  has  resulted 
in  their  enlargement  and  prosperity  ;  mas- 
tering languages  without  vocabularies  and 
qualified  teachers ;  translating  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  writing  nearly  to  comple- 
tion a  dictionary ;  suffering  imprisonment, 
in  bonds,  in  dungeons,  and  chains  ;  signal- 
izing a  whole  life,  which  spans  the  history 
of  American  Missions,  by  an  indomitable 
strength  of  purpose,  and  apostolic  energy 
of  faith,  and  ardent  zeal  for  the  glory  of 
Christ,  devoting  youth,  manhood,  and  vig- 
orous old  age  to  the  conversion  of  the 
world  ;  and  finally  dying  with  the  harness 
on,  and  leaving  to  posterity  a  name  which 
must  be  a  watchword  for  the  successive 
ranks  of  "  the  sacramental  host  of  God's 
elect,"  till  they  have  won  their  last  victory, 
and  "  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  have  be- 
come the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  his 
Christ !  "  In  view  of  all  this,  I  appeal  to 
you ;  I  appeal  to  the  world,  if  to  him  does 


84  THE    CHKISTIAN   HERO 

not  properly,  if  not  exclusively  belong  the 
title  of  "  The  Christian  Hero  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century?" 


CONCLUSION. 

By  the  trials,  and  sacrifices,  and  success 
of  this  pioneer  Missionary,  God  has  taught 
us  what  sort  of  Christians  are  needed  for 
the  conversion  of  the  vv^orld. 

1st.  We  must  have  Christians  for  this 
w^ork  who  have  a  passion  for  souls. 

Desire  is  one  thing,  and  desire  inflamed 
to  a  passion,  and  manifesting  itself  in  earn- 
est and  appropriate  action,  is  quite  another. 
The  one  ambitious,  but  in  how  few  cases 
has  that  feeling  become  an  all  absorbing, 
master  passion,  like  that  of  Caesar  and  Na- 
poleon. So,  also,  we  desire  the  salvation 
of  the  world ;  but  in  how  few  of  us  does 
this  desire  acquire  the  majesty  and  effi- 
ciency of  a  ruling  passion,  transporting  us 
beyond  ourselves,  and  carrying  along  with 


OF    THE    NINETEKXTIl    CKXrum'.  85 

it  all  the  impulses  of  our  nature.  Now 
this  inflamed  and  overmastering  desire  is 
what  is  needed.  The  xlpostle  Paul  pos- 
sessed this.  Perhaps  no  man  ever  lived 
whose  occupations  were  more  diversified 
than  those  of  Paul ;  now  compassing  the 
earth  hy  land  ;  now  ploughing  the  deep ; 
now  working  as  a  tent-maker  ;  now  thun- 
dering before  kings,  and,  in  a  word,  doing 
every  thing,  and  seeming  almost  to  possess 
ubiquity  ;  yet  amidst  all  he  says,  "  On.e 
thing  I  do!^'  one  great  absorbing  desire 
monopolized  his  heart.  It  was  the  salva- 
tion of  the  world  ;  not  the  Jewish  world 
only,  but  the  Gentile.  And  no  soldier,  bent 
upon  carrying  a  citadel,  was  ever  more  en- 
grossed by  a  single  object.  No  mariner 
on  the  open  sea,  struggling  with  winds  and 
waves  and  longing  for  port,  was  ever  more 
tenacious  of  a  single  purpose.  The  sal- 
vation of  the  world,  this  girded  him  for 
every  conflict  and  cheered  him  on  amid 
every  discouragement. 


86  THE    CHRISTIAN   HERO 


So  with  the  Apostles ;  they  had  a  passion 
for  souls,  and  they  came  down  like  thun- 
derbolts upon  the  conscience  of  a  sleeping 
world.  Imprisonment,  confiscation,  and 
sanguinary  death  were  nothing  to  these 
men.  They  had  a  passion  for  souls, — a 
passion  kindled  at  the  altar  of  God  and 
baptized  in  fire, — a  passion  nourished  and 
made  intense  by  the  concentrating  influ- 
ences of  three  worlds.  Hence  they  acted  ; 
passion  made  them  eloquent,  rendered  their 
voice,  demeanor,  and  action,  all  instinct 
with  energy,  and  gave  them  a  resistless 
power  in  bearing  away  the  thronged  audi- 
ences of  the  synagogue  or  the  temple,  of 
the  market  or  the  forum.  The  passion 
they  had  for  souls  transported  them  above 
the  fear  of  danger  or  of  death ;  and  the 
fishermen  of  Galilee  became  more  than  a 
match  for  all  the  legalized  wickedness  of 
the  world. 

So  with  Mr.  Judson ;  he  saw  the  heathen 
perishing,  the   fields  were   already  white 


or  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.    87 

and  ready  for  the  harvest ;  there  were  no 
reapers  ;  his  soul,  like  Paul's,  was  stirred 
within  him,  and  he  must  go,  and  did  go  to 
their  rescue,  and  labored  and  braved  danger 
and  suffered  and  died  for  the  heathen  ;  and 
to-day  he  is  wearing  a  crown  all  radiant 
with  gems  gathered  out  of  the  dark  realms 
of  heathendom. 

Such  is  the  sort  of  men  we  need  now  for 
the  world's  conversion.  A  few  such  men 
of  passion,  burning  with  Apostolic  fire, 
would  shake  thrones,  agitate  kingdoms, 
and  carry  victorious  war  even  to  the  gate 
of  the  enemy. 

2d.  Another  trait  of  character  eminent- 
ly exhibited  in  the  life  of  Dr.  Judson,  and 
which  Christians  must  possess  in  order  to 
fit  them  for  their  work,  is  a  spirit  of  faith 

AND  INDOMITABLE  PERSEVERANCE. 

Dr.  Judson  was  not  to  be  discouraged  in 
his  work  by  any  difficulties,  however  great, 
which  might  present  themselves.  "He 
believed,  therefore  "  he  acted. 


83  THK    CHRISTIAN    HERO 


"  If  any  ask  what  success  1  met  with 
among  the  natives,"  writes  Mr.  Judson  to 
Mr.  Rice,  who  had  returned  home  to  stir 
up  the  Churches  to  this  work,  "  tell  them 
to  look  at  Otaheite,  where  the  Missionaries 
labored  nearly  twenty  years,  and,  not  meet- 
ing with  the  slightest  success,  began  to  be 
neglected  by  all  the  Christian  world ;  and 
the  name  of  Otaheite  was  considered  a 
shame  to  the  cause  of  Missions ;  but  now 
the  blessing  begins  to  descend.  Tell  them 
to  look  at  Bengal,  also,  where  Dr.  Thomas 
had  been  laboring  seventeen  years  before 
the  first  convert,  Krishno,  was  baptized.  If 
they  ask  again  what  prospect  of  ultimate 
success  is  there?  Tell  them  as  much,  as 
that  there  is  an  Almighty  and  faithful  God 
who  will  perform  his  promises  and  no  more. 
If  this  does  not  satisfy  them,  beg  them  to 
let  me  stay  and  make  the  attempt,  and  let 
you  come  and  give  us  our  bread  ;  or  if  they 
are  unwilling  to  risk  their  bread  on  such  a 
forlorn  hope,  as  has  nothing  but  the  Word 


OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.    89 

of  God  to  sustain  it,  beg  of  them  at  least 
not  to  prevent  others  from  giving  us  bread. 
And  if  we  live  some  twenty  or  thirty  years 
they  may  hear  from  us  again." 

Here  was  faith,  —  faith  in  God;  a  faith 
that  moored  itself  to  the  throne  of  the 
Almighty,  determined  to  abide  any  con- 
sequences. This  servant  of  God  knew  that 
he  stood  upon  no  Serbonian  bog,  which 
trembles  beneath  your  tread  ;  but  he  stood 
on  God's  unfailing  Word  ;  we  have  as 
"  much  encouragement,^''  says  he,  "as  that 
there  is  an  Almighty  and  faithful  God  ivho 
will  perform  his  promises.'"  And  then  he 
was  resolved  to  persevere,  and,  by  the  grace 
of  God,  has  persevered  ;  and  what  report 
at  the  end  of  "twenty  or  thirty  years" 
is  this  indomitable,  persevering  servant  of 
God  able  to  make  1  He  can  tell  of  sixty 
or  seventy  Churches  gathered  in  the  great 
Burman  Empire,  each  flinging  the  light  of 
heaven  upon  the  midnight  darkness  of  the 
East ;  he  can  tell  of  at  least  seven  thou- 


90  THE    CHRISTIAN   HERO 

sand  Christians,  wrested  from  the  idola- 
trous worship  of  Boodh,  and  made  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  the  Ahnighty ;  he  can 
tell  of  the  Bible  faithfully  translated ;  of 
"  a  wilderness  and  solitary  place  which  are 
g-ladj'and  of  deserts  which  rejoice  and  blos- 
som as  the  rose."  He  "  went  forth  weep- 
ing bearing  precious  seed,"  and  toiled  on 
amid  disappointment  and  discouragement 
almost  six  years,  before  he  saw  any  fruit 
appear  ;  and  then  the  seed  sprung  up, 
first  "  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  and  then  the 
full  corn  in  the  ear";  for  we  have  seen 
him  "  come  again  with  rejoicing  and  bring- 
ing his  sheaves  with  him." 

So  now  we  need  Christians  who  will  be 
men  of  faith  and  perseverance,  who  will 
work  on  amid  disappointment,  persecution, 
imprisonment,  in  the  face  of  kingly  edicts 
and  death  if  need  be,  exclaiming,  "  None  of 
these  things  move  me,  neither  count  I  my 
life  dear  unto  myself,  so  that  I  might  finish 
my   course   with  joy."     And  to  do  this. 


OF  THE  XIXETEEXTH  CENTURY.    91 

Christians  must  feel  their  responsibility  ; 
they  are  standing  in  Christ's  stead ;  they 
are  acting  as  his  representatives  on  earth. 
He  has  made  tliem  "  the  light  of  the  world 
and  the  salt  of  the  earth."  Hence  it  is  no 
time  for  us  to  be  faint-hearted  or  discour- 
aged or  to  theorize ;  but  to  act.  We  are 
like  men  on  the  firm  coast,  where  a  broken 
wreck,  teeming  with  living  multitudes, 
lies  dashing  in  the  foaming  surf.  Each 
is  bound  to  save  some.  See,  millions  on 
millions  are  exposed  to  the  death  that 
never  dies.  Each  succeeding  wave  bears 
off  some.  Yes,  among  the  heathen  alone, 
there  die  ecery  year  seven  millions  and  a 
half,  —  twenty  thousand  every  day,  eight 
hundred  and  fifty  every  hour,  and  fourteen 
every  minute !  Thus  it  has  been  from  gen- 
eration to  generation,  while  the  Christian 
Church  has  been  unbelieving  and  faint- 
hearted, and  when  urged  forward  to  the 
work,  she  has  cowardly  exclaimed  in  justi- 
fication of  her  supineness,  there  are  "  giants 


92  THE    CHRISTIAN  HERO 

in  the  land."  O,  shall  Christians  fail  to 
persevere  while  a  current  of  souls  is  sweep- 
ing by,  and  discharging  itself  into  the 
burning  lake  at  the  rate  of  twenty  thou- 
sand a  day  1  Shall  we  fail  to  act  decided- 
ly and  vigorously  while  the  world  on  we 
stand  is  lashed  by  the  rising  surges  of 
hell  beneath  our  feet,  and  while  the  beat- 
ing tempest  of  wrath  is  over  our  heads  1 

3d.  To  accomplish  the  world's  conver- 
sion, Christians  must  possess,  in  an  emi- 
nent degree,  a  self-denying  and  sacrifi- 
cing SPIRIT. 

Nothing  great  or  good  has  ever  been 
effected  without  it.  Before  the  redemption 
of  man  could  be  wrought  out,  "  He  who 
was  rich"  must  become  poor;  the  second 
person  in  the  mysterious  Godhead  "must 
humble  himself,"  and  descend  to  our  res- 
cue, and  descend  from  one  depth  of  humili- 
ation to  another,  till  the  cross  arrested  his 
farther  descent  and  made  it  impossible  for 
Divine  condescension  itself  to  stoop  lower. 


OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.      93 

Before  the  world  could  be  saved,  God  must 
sacrifice  his  Son. 

If  we  look  back  to  the  Patriarchal  age, 
we  behold  the  same  self-denying  and  sac- 
rificing spirit  demanded  and  exhibited  in 
the  martyr  piety  of  Abel,  the  dauntless 
fidelity  of  Enoch,  the  persevering  obedi- 
ence of  Noah,  the  Missionary  pilgrimage 
of  Abraham,  and  later  still,  the  sacrificing 
zeal  of  Moses.  And  as  we  pass  along 
down  the  long  line  of  martyrs  and  confes- 
sors, we  see  God  requiring,  and  his  people 
actually  making,  great  sacrifices  for  the 
good  of  mankind.  We  find  men  nerving 
themselves  up  to  a  courage  which  should 
cower  before  no  danger,  and  shrink  from 
no  conflict,  —  cultivating  an  enlarged  be- 
nevolence, which  set  no  limits  to  its  plans 
and  toils  and  trials  for  the  welfare  of  man, 
—  and  attaining  to  a  spirit  of  self-abandon- 
ment, which  should  swear  eternal  devo- 
tions to  Christ,  though  in  the  presence  of 
stakes  and  gibbets  and  flames  prepared  for 


94  THE    CHRISTIAN   HERO 

its  martyrdom.  These,  indeed,  were  the 
world-benefactors,  who  bravely  consecrated 
their  entire  energies  to  the  service  of  their 
race.  They  are  champions,  who  appear 
at  fitting  intervals,  as  if  Providence  espe- 
cially designed,  by  the  mercifulness  and 
durability  of  their  influence,  to  remind  the 
world  of  what  is  most  characteristic  of  his 
own  Eternal  Throne.  They  are  the  fore- 
shadowing also  of  infinite  harvests,  for, 
though  persecution  may  seize  and  "  drag 
them  into  fame,"  and  "  chase  them  from 
the  world,"  yet  they  always  leave  the 
world  better  than  they  found  it.  They 
are  battling  for  God  and  truth  ;  between 
recreancy  to  truth  and  the  sacrifice  of  life 
they  hesitate  not  a  moment  to  choose. 
And  hence  if  they  fall  in  their  sublime 
career,  they  "  fall  chanting  the  Marseil- 
laise of  the  world's  march  toward  the  final 
victories  "  of  God  and  truth  ! 

So  we  shall  find  the  same  spirit  required 
and   manifested  in  many  of  our  Mission- 


OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY.    95 

aries.  Dr.  Judson  has  paid  ten  thousand 
DOLLARS  into  the  Missionary  treasury,  and 
this  was  all  he  possessed  on  earth,  and 
also  in  addition,  he  gave  himself  to  the 
work  of  Missions  ;  and  what  a  gift  w'as 
that  for  the  world !  Yes,  Judson  and  his 
compeers  in  their  work  have  shown  them- 
selves to  be  honest  and  true-hearted,  ready 
to  go  where  God  commands,  and  act  where 
he  directs,  with  a  firm  reliance  on  the  arm 
that  bears  the  "pillars  of  heaven"  up; 
and  when  they  are  opposed  by  sanguinary 
laws  and  kingly  edicts,  they  calmly  meet 
the  storm  and  brave  the  horrors  of  martyr- 
dom, rather  than  share  the  infinitely  more 
frightful  horrors  of  recreancy  to  truth  and 
treason  against  heaven.  The  puny  and 
selfish  potentates  of  earth  may  sue  for 
slavedoms  and  kingdoms  and  win  them, 
but  benefactors  like  these  are  the  true 
heroes  of  the  world,  and  they  will  live  in 
perpetual,  augmented  glory,  when  "ty- 
rant's crests  and  tombs  of  brass  "  have 
passed  away. 


96  THE    CHKISTIAN   HERO 

Thus  God  is  teaching  the  piety  of  his 
people  to  be  diffusive,  and  training  his 
Church  for  that  "  bolder  flight  which  shall  1 
eventually  sweep  the  horizon  of  the  world." 
0,  Christians,  have  we  caught  the  spirit  of 
Christian  self-denial  and  sacrifice  from 
these  "  mighty  men  of  war  ?  "  Are  we  at 
our  post  acquitting  ourselves  like  men  in 
this  great  contest?  Have  we  made  the 
wants  and  the  woes  of  the  world  our  ovi^n, 
so  that  we  cannot  count  the  work  complete 
till  they  have  removed?  On  this  cause 
all  the  treasures  of  the  universe  have  been 
lavished  ;  all  creation  is  groaning  and 
travailing  in  pain  together  for  want  of  it, 
and  all  the  voices  of  heaven  and  earth 
command  you  to  take  part  in  it.  What 
are  you  doing  for  its  promotion?  Does 
the  utmost  extent  of  your  instrumentality 
for  the  world's  conversion  consist  in  a 
small  donation  of  money,  and  in  an  occa- 
sional languid  prayer? 

When  the  Spartan  band  at  Thermopylas 


OF    THE    XINETEENTII    CEXTLRY.  'J/ 

prepared  themselves  to  die  for  the  salvation 
of  Greece,  they  inscribed  upon  the  over- 
hanging- crags  of  that  famous  pass  these 
words  :  "  Traveller,  go  tell  Sparta  tliat  we 
die  here  in  obedience  to  her  sacred  laws  !  " 
O,  Christians,  how  many  of  us  are  ready  to 
imitate  the  example  of  this  heroic  band,  to 
bind  garlands  upon  our  brows  as  ready  sac- 
rifices, and  throw  ourselves  in  the  Tiier- 
mopylai  of  the  moral  world,  to  die  there  for 
the  salvation  of  God,  and  in  obedience  to 
HIS  "  sacred  laws'?  " 

Finally,  we  are  not  without  encourage- 
ments to  labor  for  the  world's  conversion. 

And  this  we  may  see  from  the  labors  and 
success  of  Dr.  Judson.  The  life  of  this 
devoted  man  has  taught  us  what  Christian 
heroism,  by  the  grace  of  God,  can  accom- 
plish. And  when  the  history  of  Adoniram 
Judson  is  truly  written,  it  will  be  found  one 
of  the  most  conclusive  arguments  in  favor 
of  the  feasibility  of  Missions  among  the 
heathen  ever  presented  to  the  mind  of  man. 

9 


98  THE    CHRISTIAN   HERO 


And  further,  not  only  do  we  find  indi- 
vidual cases  of  devotion  to  this  work,  but 
the  Church  is  waking  up  to  a  sense  of  her 
responsibility  in  relation  to  the  recovery  of 
man.  She  has  gone  up  into  the  mount  of 
vision  ;  she  is  beginning  to  look  out  over 
the  world  as  the  field  ;  she  is  beginning  to 
entertain  no  less  design  than  the  ameliora- 
tion of  the  entire  race  of  man  ;  she  is  be- 
ginning to  see  that  her  appropriate  type  is 
an  "  angel  flying  through  the  midst  of 
heaven,  having  the  everlasting  Gospel  to 
preach  to  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth." 
And  she  is  making  it  her  aim  to  carry  the 
torch  of  truth  into  the  shadow  of  death  ; 
to  prepare  the  savage  for  society  ;  to  make 
the  idolater  a  true  worshipper ;  to  hush 
the  discord  of  war ;  to  restore  the  various 
branches  of  the  human  race  to  each  other, 
by  restoring  them  to  God ;  and  to  see  all 
the  crowns  of  the  world  at  the  feet  of 
Christ.  These  are  beginning  to  be  her 
daily  thoughts  and  her  most  familiar  de- 


OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.         99 

signs.  And,  indeed,  the  Church  is  actually 
marshalling  for  the  work.  She  is  already 
consecrating  to  the  Missionary  work  her 
best  talent  and  most  marked  and  devoted 
piety ;  and  as  an  earnest  of  her  designs, 
she  now  raises  annually  in  Christendom, 
for  Missionary  purposes,  two  millions  five 
hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  ; 
she  has  already  in  the  field  about  fifteen 
hundred  Missionaries,  occupying  about 
twelve  hundred  different  stations,  and  has 
already  gathered  about  two  hundred  thou- 
sand converts  into  her  Churches,  and  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  children  and 
adults  into  her  schools.  These  preparatory 
efforts,  like  the  repeated  "  flights  of  the 
dove  of  the  deluge,"  show  that  there  is 
shut  up  in  the  '*  Ark  of  the  Church  "  a 
principle  of  activity,  which  is  impetuous 
to  be  free,  and  which  promises,  when  op- 
porLuT»;ty  QPvves.  to  traverse  the  globe. 

Then  the  moral  aspect  of  the  world  is 
presenting  most    encouraging    symptoms. 


100  THE    CHRISTIAN    IIKRO 

Tiie  great  systems  of  error  which  have 
for  ages  held  the  nations  bound  are  re- 
laxing their  grasp  and  give  forth  signs  of 
having  reached  their  dotage.  The  fanati- 
cal zeal  of  the  Mahometan  is  burning  out ; 
the  priestly  power  of  the  Brahmin  is  broken 
and  his  demons  wait  in  vain  for  their  pre- 
scribed libations  of  blood  ;  the  altar  of  the 
Chinese  is  standing  empty  waiting  to  wel- 
come the  advent  of  an  "  unknown  God  "  ; 
the  South  African  chief  comes  from  a  re- 
mote interior  and  offers  his  herds  for  a 
Christian  teacher ;  the  vast  kingdoms  and 
islands  beyond  the  Ganges  we  know  are 
waiting  to  receive  any  number  of  Mission- 
aries. In  one  quarter  we  see  idolatry  losing 
its  hold  on  millions  ;  in  another  the  savage 
is  awaking  from  his  sleep  of  centuries  ; 
and,  look  in  what  direction  we  will,  the 
horizon  of  hope  enlarges  and  brightens ; 
everywhere  are  to  be  sspn  nn  imj^aiience 
of  the  present,  a  deep  presentiment,  and  a 
spirit  of  inquiry,  anticipation,  and  change 


OF    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY.       101 

looking  out  on  the  future.  And  now  is  the 
time  for  the  Church  to  proclaim  in  the  ear 
of  the  nations,  "  Behold  your  God  !  "  * 

But  the  chief  encouragement  we  have  in 
this  work  is  derived  from  the  fact  that  the 
cause  of  Missions  is  the  cause  of  God.  For 
our  success  we  are  dependent  upon  God. 
But  he  will  give  success  to  his  own  cause. 
For  this  his  word  stands  pledged.  "  Ask 
of  me,  and  I  shall  give  thee  the  heathen  for 
thine  inheritance  and  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth  for  thy  possession."  Then  "  let 
the  heathen  rage  and  the  people  imagine  a 
vain  thing,  let  the  kings  of  the  earth  set 
themselves  and  the  rulers  of  the  earth  take 
counsel  together  against  the  Lord  and 
against  his  anointed,"  what  matter?  They 
cannot  bind  the  word  of  God.  The  cords 
they  cast  about  it  will  be  like  Sampson's 
green  withs,  and  like  the  tow  when  the 
fire  toucheth  it.     "  All  power  in  heaven 

*  Harris's  Great  Commission. 


102  THE    CIIKISTIAX   HERO 


and  in  earth  is  given  "  to  Christ,  and  this 
renders  the  triumph  of  his  Gospel  certain. 

Be  encouraged,  then,  O  Christians,  and 
prepare  yourselves  ;  gird  on  your  armor 
for  the  world's  conquest.  On  whom  shall 
the  mantle  of  the  sainted  Judson  fall?  on 
whom?  Let  every  blast  of  the  "  Apoca- 
lyptic trumpet "  ring  through  the  Churcli 
as  a  summons  to  universal  action  !  Let 
every  soldier  of  the  Christian  army  demean 
himself  as  if  "  an  angel  fought  at  his  side," 
and  infinite  issues  were  waiting  the  result ! 
Though  God  comes  and  takes  av/ay  a  mas- 
ter-workman, still  the  work  will  go  on,  — 
it  must  go  on.  The  shadow  on  the  w^orld's 
dial-plate  cannot  be  turned  back  ;  the  rock 
cut  out  of  the  m.ountain  without  hands  can- 
not be  arrested  in  its  course ;  the  wheels 
of  God's  providence  are  rolling  onward ; 
those  wheels  are  high  and  dreadful,  noth- 
ing can  oppose  them. 

This  cause  must  triumph,  —  it  has  tri- 
umphed; it  triumphed  in  Egypt,  —  it  tri- 


OF    THE    NINETEKXTII    CENTUUV.        103 

umphed  in  Palestine,  —  at  the  tomb  of  Jo- 
seph, —  in  Germany,  —  in  England,  —  in 
America,  —  and  at  this  moment  its  tri- 
mnphs  are  spreading  "from  sea  to  sea," 
and  "  from  the  rivers  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth."  Be  hushed,  then,  the  language  of 
unbelief  and  the  moanings  of  complaint. 
Islands  of  the  sea,  ye  shall  not  wait  in 
vain  for  his  law !  Africa,  there  is  hope 
in  thine  end,  the  hands  of  thy  children 
shall  be  stretched  out  to  God  !  India,  thy 
swarming  myriads  shall  rejoice  in  the  true 
incarnation,  "  God  manifest  in  the  flesh  !  " 
And  China,  thy  walls  shall  be  salvation 
and  all  thy  gates  praise  !  Kalee,  Vishnoo, 
and  Juggernaut,  your  shrines  are  doomed, 
your  days  are  numbered,  and  your  end 
draweth  nigh  !  For  unto  Shiloh  shall  the 
gathering  of  the  people  be. 
"  EvEX  so  COMB  Lord  Jesus,  —  cons  q,uiciclv  !  " 

"  And  adtletl  to  thy  many  crowns 
Receive  yel  onCj  the  crown  of  ail  ihe  earth  !  " 


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